Second Look: 1996-97 Stadium Club Basketball Matrix
Oh, what could have been.
I sometimes wonder what could have been for the 1996-97 Stadium Club Basketball Matrix parallels.
The beautiful rainbow foiled cards were inserted 1:12 packs in Series 1 only. This meant you could roughly find two per box, which made them a bit of a challenge. The Matrix parallel was lacking the game’s best player – Michael Jordan – as he appeared in Series 2, but Matrix didn’t. Stadium Club didn’t follow through.
With no Jordan, the Matrix made little impact to many basketball collectors. They are not even in the same conversation with many other parallels of the time that did feature Jordan.
But could you imagine if Topps had included Jordan? Or what if – a big if – Topps had included actual rookies in the Matrix parallels? Not only would you have MJ, but you would also have the likes of Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson Ray Allen, Stephon Marbury and Steve Nash.
Then this set actually would stand out, and not get lost in the “no Michael Jordan” narrative.
The 90-card parallel set still does include the Matrix technology and has NBA stars and other household names that many of us grew up with.
Names such as:
- Scottie Pippen – Played 17 NBA seasons and won six NBA Championships alongside Jordan with the Bulls.
- Patrick Ewing – Hall of Famer is regarded as one of the greatest centers of all-time along with being an 11x All-Star.
- Grant Hill – 7x All-Star, 5x All-NBA selection and was a three-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship award along with being a 2x NCAA champion.
- Jason Kidd – NBA Champion, 10x All-Star, and 9x NBA All-Defensive Team member.
- Shaquille O’Neal – Played 19 years and was a 4x NBA Champion along with an MVP Award and 3x NBA Finals MVP Awards.
- Shawn Kemp – A 6x All-Star and a 3x All NBA Second Team member.
Those names alone should pique some interest in this technology-driven insert. It’s certainly worth a Second Look.
