If you are willing to pay $1,000 then you will be able to attend a private reception with NBA 1st Pick Greg Oden.

Topps is offering 100 invitations for sale for a private reception with Greg Oden during the National Collector’s Convention in Cleveland.

Attendees will receive Hors d’oeuvres and drinks, a professional picture taken with Greg Oden and a special Allen & Ginter card that will only be available at this reception.

Topps sure seems to be getting their money’s worth out of Oden.

[tags]Greg Oden, Topps[/tags]

As announced earlier, autograph cards of the 4 Topps Exclusive rookies from the NBA draft went up for sale today on Topps.com.

The Greg Oden card which was limited to 50 and sold for $500, sold out almost immediately.  As of the time of this writing the other 3 are still available.  They are:

• Yi JianLian (#’d to 100) - $200
• Brandan Wright (#’d to 100) - $150
• Nick Young (#’d to 100) - $100

A way for Topps to make a quick buck or $70,000 and recover part of their investment in these exclusive rookies.

[tags]Topps, Autograph, Greg Oden, Exclusive[/tags]

The recent trend has been for the card companies to sign players to exclusive autograph and memorabilia card contracts.  Besides allowing the company to use the player’s image on marketing and promotional material, it prevents other card companies from including autographed and memorabilia cards in their product.

This year, Topps and Upper Deck have signed five of the likely top picks in the NBA draft.  These players are:

1. Kevin Durant (Texas)
2. Yi JianLian (China)
3. Greg Oden (Ohio State)
4. Brandan Wright (North Carolina)
5. Nick Young (USC)

Now comes word that Press Pass has canceled 2007/08 Press Pass Basketball because of the shortage of top picks that would be available to include in their product.

Hopefully this trend does not continue in the future, or at least, players can still appear in draft pick sets in their pre-professional uniforms.

[tags]Press Pass, NBA Draft, Exclusive[/tags]

Topps has announced that they will be offering limited edition autographed rookie cards of 4 future NBA stars.  These card which only will be available through Topps.com will feature Greg Oden, Brandan Wright, Yi JianLian and Nick Young.

The cards will be available on Topps.com on Friday, June 29th from 3PM EST through Friday, July 6th 3PM or until the cards sell-out, whichever comes first.  Each customer is limited to 1 card of each player.

[tags]Topps, NBA Draft, Greg Oden[/tags]

Upper Deck has announced that the first card and certified autograph of future First or Second NBA pick Kevin Durant will appear in Upper Deck Goudey Baseball which will be released in August.

Durant signed an exclusive deal with Upper Deck earlier this year for autographs and memorabilia.

[tags]Upper Deck, Kevin Durant, Goudey[/tags]

Future 1st or 2nd pick in the 2007 NBA Draft Greg Oden has signed a $3 million contract with Topps to become a spokesman for the trading card company.  Topps will have exclusive rights to Oden’s image on advertising and product packaging.  They will also have exclusive rights to produce autographed and memorabilia cards.

His first card will be a dual card along NBA legend Bill Russell that celebrates Topps’ 50th anniversary of basketball trading cards.

Kevin Durant, the other probable 1st or 2nd pick in the draft, signed an exclusive contract with Upper Deck earlier this month.

[tags]Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Topps[/tags]

When Upper Deck inserted autographed 1986-87 Michael Jordan Fleer Rookies in 2006-07 Fleer Basketball, nobody knew how many were being made available.  After four months, one card has surfaced on eBay and it appears that there are 23.

The card currently up for auction on eBay is numbered 20/23.  With 9 days still left until the end of the auction, the bidding is already up to $10,250.  It has a chance to become the most expensive ungraded basketball card ever.  The Lebron James 2003-04 Exquisite Collection rookie is currently valued at $13,000.

Link to Ebay Auction

 
[tags]Michael Jordan, Fleer, Rookie, 86-87 Fleer, Redemption[/tags]

NBA Rookie-To-Be Kevin Durant of the University of Texas has signed his first professional contract and it is not with an NBA team.

Durant has signed an exclusive deal with Upper Deck to appear in the trading card manufacturers packaging and marketing materials.   He will also have an exclusive line of Upper Deck Authenticated autographed items.

His first rookie card will appear in Fleer Ultra SE and Upper Deck First Edition Basketball.  His first autographed card will be in Upper Deck SP Game Used Basketball.

Durant will most likely be the first or second pick behind Greg Oden in the upcoming 2007 NBA Draft.

“I’m very excited to be taking two giant leaps in my career by joining the NBA and at the same time, signing a contract with another winning team, The Upper Deck Company,” said versatile swingman Kevin Durant. “I’m honored to be in the company of some of the world’s most skilled athletes who also represent Upper Deck’s products.”

[tags]Kevin Durant, Upper Deck[/tags]

SMP Sportscards of Grapevine, Texas has won the NBA Hobby Shop Makeover contest that was held between December 1, 2006 and February 28, 2007.

Thirty-six hobby shops were chosen as finalists and the one which collected the most pack wrappers over that period of time would be awarded with a shop makeover by celebrity designer Michael Moloney.  The 10 runner-ups receive an NBA-themed party at their store.

SMP collected over 61,000 wrappers during the contest period.  “My business started in the back of a gas station more than 20 years ago, so winning the promotion is one of the biggest hightlights of my life,” said Scott Pierce, owner of SMP Sportscards.  In order to bring in the wrappers, SMP held raffles and customer appreciation events.

The NBA also named Travis Thompson of Washington state as the winner in the consumer sweepstakes.  He won the Grand Prize which includes a trip for two to the 2007 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot.

[tags]NBA, Contest[/tags]

According to Beckett, Upper Deck Chronology basketball will contain dual autographed cards of players and their college coaches.  Two of these are a Michael Jordan / Dean Smith and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and John Wooden. 

The set will also have James Naismith cut signature cards.  There will be 100 rookies in the base set #’d to 199 via Redemption.

[tags]Upper Deck, Chronology, Michael Jordan, Dean Smith[/tags]

Topps distributed cards to attendees at the 2007 McDonald’s All-American Games being held in Louisville, Kentucky.  There will be 24 cards for the boys teams and 24 cards for the girls teams.  The set includes cards of hoops stars O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon.

[tags]Topps, O.J. Mayo[/tags]

According to Beckett.com, Upper Deck has plans for a high-end basketball product called Upper Deck Chronology. 

It will contain a cut signature card of the “inventor” of basketball, Mr. James Naismith.

Pricing is not yet known but packs will retail somewhere between $100-$600.

The set will contain both rookies and current players as well as retired legends.

 [tags]Upper Deck Chronology, James Naismith[/tags]