In the 2018 NBA Draft, Trae Young was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks and traded for Luka Doncic to the Atlanta Hawks. A generational trade of 2 future stars on draft night forever linking the two. Pre-draft Trae was considered a “Boom-Bust ” prospect who would flame out of the league or become the next all-star. He became the latter. Trae has morphed into the league’s most dangerous offensive point guard, earning the nickname “Ice Trae.” A 2 time All Star with an arsenal of deep three pointers and unguardable floaters, however he has struggled defensively being consistently in the top 5 worst defensive players. The 2020 Playoffs is where “Ice Trae ” became famous during the series against the Knicks. Clutch shooting combined with several playoff moments fully established Trae Young’s Star statues
In this article, we are only discussing base rookie cards
Donruss Rated Rookie
A Classic Rookie card found commonly in Donruss Retail boxes. A good starter rookie card for collectors of Trae young. A staggering ~9,000 of this card has been graded by PSA. Parallels include Green Laser, Green/Yellow Laser, Pink Laser, Orange Laser, Purple Laser, Red/Blue Laser, Purple/Green Laser (Rarest), Yellow Flood, Green Flood, and Press Proof Blue Laser/Gold Laser/Red Laser/Purple/Silver
Optic
With the same look as the Donruss Rated Rookie, but in the Optic branding. A slightly more common version of Trae’s RC card at ~13,000 graded across 43 Parallels. Parallels included Holo, Blue Velocity, Pink Velocity /79, Black Velocity /39, Purple, Shock, Checkerboard, Hyper Pink, Orange /199, Lime Green /149, Red /99, Blue /49, Pink /25, Purple Stars /13, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Gold Vinyl 1/1
Donruss The Rookies -
Another Classic Rookie card of the Donruss Retail series, but this card is more rare than the Rated Rookie set. This card is also a good starter rookie card, but be prepared to spend a little more for it. PSA graded ~250 with only 1 Parallel being Press Proof. Note Donruss version looks exactly the same with the Optic version with different prices/pops
NBA Hoops
The second most common Trae Young Rookie card; The NBA Hoops series contains a plethora of Trae Young cards and parallels. You won’t have to worry about getting a PSA graded as ~6,200 cards have been graded. Parallels include Winter Edition, Blue, Blue Checkerboard, Green, Yellow, Teal Explosion, Teal, Silver /199, Red, Red/Black, Red Checkerboard (Rarest), Purple, Purple Winter Edition, Orange, Orange Explosion, and Artist Proof
Chronicles Playoff
Chronicles is considered a cheap retail with various sub-series of cards including the Playoff series. Despite being called Playoffs, a team doesn’t have to be in the playoffs to be included in the set. Roughly ~820 of Trae’s cards have been PSA graded. Parallels include Bronze, Green, Pink, Red /149, Blue /99, Purple /49, Gold /10, and Platinum 1/1
Prizm
A classic Trae Rookie Card with a classic series. By far the most graded and collected Trae RC with over ~26,000 PSA Graded. Parallels include Silver, Green, Hyper, Red Ice, Pink Ice, Purple Ice /149, Blue Ice /99, Purple Wave, Ruby Wave, Red/White/Blue, Red /299, Blue /199, Purple /75, Orange /49, Pink Pulsar /42, Purple Pulsar /35, Green Pulsar /25, Mojo /25, Gold /10, Black Gold /5, and Black 1/1
Select
Before Select moved to its more colorful version of today, it was more black, gray, and gold. 2018 Select was before it was released for Retail so it’s considered a Hobby box card. Another series strongly graded with ~4,600 PSA graded with 13 Parallels. Parallels Included Silver, Scope, Zebra, Tri-Color, Light Blue /299, Red /199, White /149, Neon Green /75, Tie-Die /25, Neon Orange Pulsar /13, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1
Absolute Memorabilia
A Hobby series with a powerful background and large image format. While this series has several autos and RPAs it lacks in parallels. Due to it’s 10 card box format, only ~45 cards have been graded by Panini. Parallels only include 10th Anniversary /10 and Maroon /7
Obsidian
A Hobby series known for its dark black cards with bright names. Oddly more parallels have been PSA graded than base at ~33 graded parallels and ~10 base. Parallels include Purple /49, Orange /25, Green /15, Yellow /10, Red /5, White Mojo /1
Revolution
With its unique line design and bright flashy appearance, this hobby depicts Trae mid dunk (one would assume). Revolution is one of the more popular hobby products with ~1,750 PSA graded, with a strong majority being PSA 10s. Parallels include Astro, Fractal, Groove, Impact, Galactic, Cosmic /100, Sunburst /75, Cubic /50, Lava /10, Chinese New Year Emerald /88 and Holo Gold /8.
Crown Royale
Base cards that are die-cuts? Yes, a fancy base for a fancy hobby series. Notoriously hard to grade due to so many edges, ~125 PSA graded with several parallels containing 0 PSA 10s. Parallels include Crystal /99, Red /49, Purple /25, Gold /10, Platinum 1/1
Noir
A hobby series where you needed 2 cards to complete the full visuals called the ‘Association Edition’ and ‘Icon Edition’. Only ~8 PSA Graded with ~4 Card#151 and ~5 Card#181. Parallels include Holo Silver /25, Holo Gold /10, and Platinum 1/1
Flawless
Only 2 Base cards per box with all Base cards being /20 making them quite rare. If you were hoping to get a PSA graded one, well only 1 Base and ~5 Double have been graded. Parallels include Double /10. Triple /5, Bronze /2, Platinum 1/1
Summary
Trae Young is a NBA Star with a bright future as a top 10 or higher player in the league. A good investment for short term and long term thanks to his flair and style. As for options of which rookie card to collect, you have tons of options. From cheap retail to expensive rare hobby, Trae Young’s base is out there for collectors to collect
