1986 Fleer Basketball Sealed Box - 36ct Packs - BBCE AUTH, LOA

In 1982, Topps decided to cease its basketball card operations. With the end of their monopoly on bubble gum cards allowing Fleer and Donruss to enter the baseball market in 1981, Topps focused its efforts on fending off its newly created competition. Baseball cards were significantly more popular and more profitable than basketball cards at the time—but as the major card producers began churning out baseball sets, NBA fans were left without cards to collect. The Star company released a full basketball set two years later, but with its low print run and limited distribution, ‘84-’85 Star failed to resurrect the market. Then, Fleer decided to enter the fray. Unable to best the baseball behemoth Topps, the company turned its attention to the hoops market, releasing the iconic 1986 Fleer basketball set. Unlike Star’s releases, ‘86 Fleer had a wider distribution in a more traditional format, with cards sold in standard wax packs as opposed to bagged team sets. Because of the five-year production gap between ‘81-’82 Topps and ‘86-’87 Fleer, the set also became the default rookie year release for several iconic rookie draft classes, including the cards of Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins, Isiah Thomas, and Patrick Ewing. The set also includes NBA all-timers like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But, of course, the ultimate chase card is the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie. This BBCE-authenticated 36-pack box provides a prime opportunity to land an untouched example of this celebrated issue alongside other popular cards, including His Airness' '86 Fleer sticker.