Since entering the WNBA as the No. 1 overall pick in 2024, Caitlin Clark has been the clear collectibles star of the league.
She’s produced the top auction results, delivered stunning sales volume and has now even covered cereal boxes and Sports Illustrated magazines.
Though Clark sits atop the WNBA’s trading card hierarchy, deeper analysis of the league shows hobbyists have diversified their collections, and the league is quickly becoming more than a one-star outfit.
The $366,000 sale of Clark’s 2024 Panini Prizm WNBA Signatures Gold Vinyl 1/1 at Goldin in March set a record as the most paid for a card of any female athlete.
Of the players tracked by Market Movers, only Victor Wembanyama (12.5k) has produced more total sales than Clark (12.2k) among active basketball players over the last 30 days.
That trend holds across the last 365 days, too, though the delta between Wembanyama and Clark greatly expands.
GemRate’s 2024 recap showed Clark was the 10th-most graded athlete from any sport last year — despite the fact many of her peers on the list have a much larger portfolio of cards to choose from.
Truthfully, Clark’s popularity has transcended the WNBA, and she’s now one of the most collectible athletes from any sport.
Compared to leagues such as the NBA, NFL and MLB, the WNBA’s collectibles marketplace is in its infancy, but Clark’s influence has helped expand the sport’s scope in cardboard with a similar velocity to its surge in TV ratings.
According to Market Movers data over the last year, WNBA or women’s college basketball players accounted for just four of the top 80 basketball players sorted by sales volume. After Clark’s appearance at No. 3, another WNBA player doesn't appear until Chicago Sky star Angel Reese lands at No. 30.
Months later, with the WNBA’s 2025 regular season opening Friday night, the landscape is much different, and a number of new faces have arrived in style.
According to Market Movers, Clark has been the third-most purchased basketball player over the last 30 days — behind Wembanyama and Michael Jordan — but there are now nine WNBA players among the top 80, three among the top 20 and two among the top 10.
Driven by the 2024 WNBA Draft, Market Movers’ sales volume leaderboard over the last month has been completely reshaped.
The No. 2 overall pick from last year’s draft, Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink is the 10th best-selling basketball player over the last month with more than 2,600 sales logged by the data tool.
Reese, the seventh overall pick last year and an All-Star as a rookie, is the 16th best-selling basketball player over that period with more than 2,000 sales — that total is more than NBA stars such as Cade Cunningham, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton.
Among collectors, Clark, Brink and Reese were the clear stars of the WNBA’s most important collectibles rookie class, but interest in other players has expanded in recent months as well.
Brink’s teammate and the fourth overall pick in 2024, Rickea Jackson has had nearly 700 sales logged in the last month, while picks No. 3 and No. 14, Kamilla Cardoso and Nika Mühl, have both topped 500.
Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, also topped 500 sales over the last month despite her flagship WNBA cards likely still months away.
An increase in sales volume presents evidence there’s a growing popularity for WNBA cards among average collectors, but there are also signs the high-end market is experiencing growth as well.
So far, no WNBA player has matched the success of Clark’s ultra high-end cards, though Bueckers can tout a sale of $30,000-plus from April.
Brink, Reese, Jackson, Cardoso and Mühl have all seen four-figure sales so far, however, and it’s encouraging for the market when the top sales for Bueckers, Brink, Reese and Jackson have all arrived in 2025.
Those high sales pale in comparison to Clark’s, but they don’t need to match her records to be successful either.
Clark’s entrance delivered the hype the league, and its collectors, were hoping for to reach widespread appeal, but it’s also now clear the supporting cast can play its own part.
Many were rightfully skeptical the WNBA, following years of middling interest from collectors, might simply turn into the Caitlin Clark Show, but the data proves that isn’t the case anymore, and the league might just have the additional star power it needs to become the next major trading card category.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.