You have to be pretty great to earn the nickname “Legend,” and boy, did Larry Bird deliver. Bird is a hall of famer that is unanimously recognized as a top 10 player in NBA history and one of the reasons the league saw an explosion in popularity in the 1980s. So before we get to the “Legends” of the Larry Bird basketball cards, let's learn a bit about his career.
Who is Larry Bird?
Larry Bird, also known as “the Hick from French Lick” and “Larry Legend,” played 13 seasons for the Boston Celtics during a dynamite run that featured three Celtics championships, arguably the greatest team of all-time, and a legendary rivalry between fellow superstar Magic Johnson.
Bird was a high school star growing up and was recruited to play at Indiana for Coach Bobby Knight, but eventually dropped out and later attended the smaller Indiana State University. He played three college seasons before heading to the NBA after being drafted 6th overall by the Celtics. He was selected after his second college season but opted to return for his senior year. Bird ended up playing Magic Johnson in the national championship game, forever cementing their rivalry throughout their career.
Larry led the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season's record and helped the team reach five NBA Finals and three championships. He won back-to-back-to-back MVP awards from 1984-1986. He was a 12-time all-star, two-time NBA Finals MVP, and a gold medal winner in the iconic 1992 Dream Team. He was an easy first-ballot hall-of-Famer and eventually became Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year in the Pacers organization. He's the only person in NBA history to win Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year. Alongside these accolades, he's been recognized by the NBA, who have adopted his namesake for the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP award. By sheer coincidence, the first winner of this award was a Boston Celtic, Jayson Tatum, in the 2022 postseason.
The Most Expensive Larry Bird Basketball Cards Ever Sold
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1980-81 Topps Scoring Leader Larry Bird/Magic Johnson Rookie Card – PSA GEM MT 10
$840,000.00
The most expensive Larry Bird basketball card ever sold is a 1980-81 Topps scoring legend Bird/Irving/Johnson rookie card that sold for $840,000. It is a GEM MT rating of 10.
Obviously, a card featuring three legends of the game will be iconic. Even more, both Magic and Larry started their legendary rivalry by starting their careers in the same year. Both Larry and Magic are rookies in the card above, and you can see the veteran Julius “Doctor J” Erving averaged 27 points the year before.
Here's what GoldinAuctions had to say about this legendary card.
Graded GEM MT 10 by PSA. A superb tribute to three Hall of Famers: Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, (two of which – Bird and Johnson – are featured in their desirable Rookie Card appearances), this sought-after triptych is one of the key cards in the basketball collecting specialty.
Among a total of more than 11,600 copies recorded in PSA's census reporting, just 25 examples (less than one-fourth of one percent of the card's population) have been placed at this unsurpassable tier. The offered example displays superior centering, outstanding color, and absolutely none of the print overspray that typically frustrates enthusiasts who have been seeking a top-quality specimen of this important collectible. Exquisitely flawless Gem Mint condition.
I've also gone ahead and added the unlisted video showcasing the card, which you can watch below.
This exact card also sold on April 17th, 2022, almost a year later, for the exact same price of $840,000, so I guess you can say it's reached its peak valuation.
1980-81 Topps Scoring Leader Larry Bird/Magic Johnson Rookie Card – PSA GEM MT 10
$799,500.00
The craziest part about this specific set of cards is that with 22 total released, we've got multiple GEM MT 10s that have seen play on the market. Don't believe me? Check that serial number.
For your enjoyment, I've taken the liberty of skipping all other instances of the 1980-81 card seen above for this list. Even with 22 total, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone is on this list, and that's without even diving into the fact that each one has sold about 5 times each. My apologies, but keep reading to learn about other unique Larry Bird basketball cards!
2020-21 Panini Immaculate Collection “Dual Logoman Autographs” Larry Bird/Luka Doncic Dual-Signed Logoman Game-Used Patch Card (#1/1) – PSA NM 7,
$90,000.00
What made Panini Immaculate feature these two players on the same card? All joking aside, Luka Doncic has drawn a lot of comparisons to the way Larry Bird used to play the game, with exceptional passing, rebounding, and an all-around impact on the game that made Larry Bird famous. It is ironic, though, that Luka's nickname “Luka Magic” is more directly taken from Magic Johnson than Larry Bird.
This wonderful-looking card features two pristine signatures and two NBA patches in near-mint 7 condition. You can tell the differences in jerseys over the year, as the older jerseys had sewn patches rather than the (I assume) synthetic ones we see from Luka's patch. Both players wearing their green jerseys, with Larry sporting the classic Celtic green and Luka wearing an alternate jersey is an incredibly nice detail.
2009/10 UD “Exquisite Collection” All NBA Access “Dual Logoman Patch Autographs” Larry Bird/Kevin Garnett Dual Signed Game Used Logoman Patch Card
$85,200.00
We've got another pairing of superstars for Larry's next expensive basketball card, with this Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman featuring MVP Kevin Garnett alongside Larry Bird. Obviously, the connection of being a Celtics legend is shared between the two, with Bird spending his entire career as a Celtic and Kevin leading the team to a title later in his career, but both are heroes in Boston sports lore. A beautifully unique 1/1 featuring two Celtics legends is a great card to add to any collection.
1981 Topps Larry Bird #4 PSA Gem Mint 10
$49,200.00
1981 Topps Larry Bird #4 PSA Gem Mint 10. Larry Bird was an absolute gem of a player, and, fittingly, this valuable GEM MINT card celebrates “The Hick from French Lick”, who was one of the greatest NBA players of all-time. “I wasn't real quick and I wasn't real strong…. So, I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals,” said Bird of his means of attack. What Bird did have was height, at 6'9″, and marvelous hand-eye coordination coupled with an intelligent field of vision that saw the whole court and its possibilities well before most of his opponents did. Bird played both small forward and power forward, but his actual position never fit the mold. Bird was likely the first forward to be called a point forward, as his Boston Celtics often ran their offense through Bird, and Larry used his great vision and superb passing skills to become the fulcrum of the Boston attack. This would be Bird's first appearance on a card by himself. In his rookie year he shared the spotlight with two other Hall of Famers in Magic Johnson, which was his rookie as well and Dr. J, Julius Erving.
2003 Exquisite Collection Limited Logos Larry Bird PATCH DNA 10 AUTO /75 PSA 10
$44,400.00
2001 UD Legends Legendary Jersey Michael Jordan Larry Bird AUTO DNA 10 /10 PSA 6
$43,200.00
A GEM MT 6 for $43,200? Who will say no when it features two of the GOATs in the history of the NBA? The game-worn patches aren't the most inviting to look at, and I'm not sure the Michael Jordan photo is even real, but you can own this card for a quick 40 grand. That sounds like a steal, right? Right?
Unfortunately for Larry, his cards don't fetch nearly as high of a price as the most expensive Michael Jordan basketball cards ever sold, and in fact, this specific card doesn't even make it on Jordan's list!
