10 Career-Defining Shawn Kemp Basketball Cards – Instant PC
A high-flying, hard-dunking forward and one of the most popular players of the 1990s, Shawn Kemp starred alongside Gary Payton on the Seattle Supersonics in his prime before wrapping up his career with stops in Cleveland, Portland and Orland.
All told, there are more than 2,500 Shawn Kemp cards, according to the Beckett database.
So where does one begin putting together a Shawn Kemp PC?
The following 10 cards serve as an excellent representation of his playing career and footprint on the hobby, making them a great place to start.
1990-91 Fleer #178 Shawn Kemp RC
Originally committed to the University of Kentucky, Kemp was ruled academically ineligible and he wound up attending Trinity Valley Community College for one semester before declaring for the 1989 NBA draft. The Sonics took him No. 17 overall and he averaged 6.5 points in 13.8 minutes per game as a 20-year-old rookie.
He has three Rookie Cards in the 1990-91 Fleer, Hoops and SkyBox sets, and due to mass overproduction all three are readily available for just a couple bucks apiece.
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1991-92 SkyBox #271 Shawn Kemp
Kemp saw a significant uptick in his playing time during his second season in the NBA, logging 30.1 minutes per game and averaging 15.0 points and 8.4 rebounds while making 66 starts. He put up similar numbers again during the 1991-92 campaign with 15.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest.
The 1991-92 SkyBox set doesn’t hold much value, but the colorful design screams 1990s and they were some of the best-looking cards of the era.
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1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team #3 Shawn Kemp
Kemp took another step forward during the 1992-93 season when he earned his first All-Star selection by tallying 17.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. It was the first of six straight All-Star appearances and the beginning of his rise from solid contributor to bona fide star.
Kemp was included in the iconic 1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team insert set, and those cards have held their value as well as any from the 1990s. The Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal cards in the set sell for hundreds of dollars, while Kemp has a book value of $20.
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1993-94 Ultra #365 Shawn Kemp USA
Kemp was part of the Team USA squad that went 8-0 and took home gold during the 1994 Fiba World Championship. He averaged 9.4 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting a blistering 68.9 percent from the field while appearing in all eight games.
There was no shortage of Team USA subset cards and inserts in 1993 and 1994 products, and the 1993-94 Ultra subset is a low-cost option to represent his time representing his country.
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1995-96 Metal Metal Force #7 Shawn Kemp
The Sonics reached the NBA Finals during the 1995-96 season, with Kemp averaging 19.6 points and a career-high 11.4 rebounds to finish eighth in MVP voting. He poured in 23.3 points per game and averaged 40.3 minutes in the six-game series with the Chicago Bulls, but the Sonics ultimately came up short.
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1996-97 Hoops Starting Five #25 Seattle Supersonics
The year after taking Kemp in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft, the Sonics selected point guard Gary Payton No. 2 overall in 1990, and just like that one of the best duos in the NBA throughout the 1990s was assembled. That pair helped build the Sonics into a perennial contender.
Despite their prominence, the duo of Kemp and Payton only appeared on a handful of cards together during their playing days, including the 1996-97 Hoops Starting Five insert that also features Detlef Schrempf, Hersey Hawkins and Sam Perkins.
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1997-98 Ultra Star Power #SP6 Shawn Kemp
After eight seasons with the Sonics, Kemp was traded to the Cavaliers prior to the 1997-98 season. The 28-year-old was an All-Star for the final time during his first season in Cleveland, leading a 47-win team with 18.0 points per game.
The Fleer Ultra brand was known for its sheer abundance of different insert cards throughout the 1990s. The 1997-98 release was a one-and-done for the Star Power insert set, but the atom symbol background design made it a memorable one.
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1998-99 Topps East/West #EW13 Shawn Kemp/Vin Baker
The Cavaliers acquired Kemp in a three-team, six-player deal with Seattle and Milwaukee prior to the 1997-98 season that sent fellow All-Star Vin Baker to the Sonics. Both standout forwards made the All-Star team in their first year with their new teams.
Topps wisely put them back-to-back on the double-sided East/West insert card the following year, making that the perfect representation of the blockbuster trade.
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2001-02 Topps Heritage #66 Shawn Kemp
After three seasons in Cleveland where he averaged 18.5 points per game, Kemp was traded again, this time going to the Trail Blazers. However, his production dropped off significantly in his first season in Portland when he averaged just 6.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 15.9 minutes.
Despite being a high-profile player, Kemp was only included in a handful of 2000-01 and 2001-02 sets in his Portland uniform, so the pickings were slim to represent that stage of his career.
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2003-04 Fleer Tradition #67 Shawn Kemp
Following two forgettable years in Portland, Kemp played his final NBA campaign with the Magic during the 2002-03 season, tallying 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds in 79 games on a roster led by rising star Tracy McGrady and an aging Grant Hill.
The final card of his playing days was part of the 2003-04 Fleer Tradition set, making it the perfect book end to this collection.
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