WNBA legend Sue Bird is teaming up with eBay for the "Sue Bird Dream Draft" auction featuring specially curated memorabilia ranging from WNBA rookie cards to landmark tickets.
The auction, which runs until Tuesday, with all items featuring a starting bid of 97 cents (an ode to the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 season), comes as WNBA collectibles have seen a massive surge in interest on the platform. Searches for “WNBA” are up 480% year-over-year, along with a 170% increase in WNBA jerseys sold on eBay and a 650% jump in WNBA trading cards sold on the platform from 2020-24.
For Bird, who will be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame this fall, collectibles are a bit of a new phenomenon.
“I didn’t realize I was a collector until recently,” Bird told cllct in an email. “I was going through my storage to pull items for the Hall of Fame and was surprised by how much I’d saved over the years. Jerseys, shoes, game balls. Really anything that meant something.
"Each piece brings back a specific memory or moment. That’s what made curating my ‘Dream Draft’ so fun — thinking about and identifying the cards and items that can spark that same emotion for fans of the game.”
The Seattle Storm great says she grew up collecting baseball cards and called the moment she first saw her own face on a card “surreal.”
“For me, collecting’s never been about the monetary worth. It’s about the player, the story, the feeling it brings out. Stewie’s rookie card in a Storm jersey is a moment in time … that is why I selected it for my ‘Dream Draft’ curation,” Bird said. “You won’t get another one like it.”
Among the highlights of the collection are:
- Sue Bird Signed Nike Seattle Storm jersey
- 1997 Pinnacle Inside Sheryl Swoopes rookie card (PSA Gem Mint 10)
- 2002 LA Sparks Game ticket: Lisa Leslie’s first WNBA dunk
- 2018 A’ja Wilson rookie auto card (PSA Gem Mint 10)
- 2024 Panini Caitlin Clark Rookie of the Year auto card (PSA Gem Mint 10)
- Sabrina Ionescu Signed WNBA Finals basketball
- Paige Bueckers Signed Nike Dallas Wings jersey
Of course, much of the rising interest in WNBA collectibles centers around Clark, who owns the record for the most expensive sports card ever sold for a female athlete ($366,000), as well as the top 10 WNBA cards sold on eBay in 2024. Clark’s name averaged 1,300 searches per hour on eBay in March.
Currently, the top five best-selling active WNBA players are Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Ionescu and Aliyah Boston.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.