Wilt Chamberlain is one of the greatest players in the history of basketball. Starting his career out with the famous Harlem Globetrotters, Chamberlain played with the squad from 1958-59. From there, he went to the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors), the Philadelphia 76'ers from 1965-68, and ended his career with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1968-1973. During his illustrious career, Chamberlain accomplished:
In 1960-61, Chamberlain averaged a record 27.2 rebounds per game and followed-that up in 1961-62 with a record 50.4 points per game. Wilt scored so many points in 1961-62 that on March 2nd, 1962, he scored 100 points in a single game. Each of these records still stand today! For his career, Chamberlain averaged 30.07 points per game, a record which stood until Michael Jordan retired with 30.12 points per game.
Here are a few key cards from Wilt Chamberlain's career:
Long before basketball cards were released every week, hoops fans had to wait YEARS for a new basketball card set. The first official basketball card set is 1948 Bowman. It wasn't until 1957 when Topps released a basketball card set. A few more years went by until we were given the 1961 Fleer set. Imagine going over a decade and just THREE basketball card sets were released. 1961 Fleer cards are the standard size you see today at 2.5" x 3.5". Player images are in black and white while the backgrounds have vibrant colors. Chamberlain is card number 8 in this iconic set.
High-grade examples are scarce and quite valuable! PSA has graded around 47,000 cards from the 1961 Fleer set and only 113 have been graded Gem Mint PSA 10. There are three-known Wilt Chamberlain cards graded PSA 10 and the value is almost a million dollars! The last PSA 10 example was sold for $976,000. Lower-graded cards can be found for a more affordable price. A PSA 2 value is about $2,000 while a mid-grade of a PSA 5 is about $5,000.
After nearly a decade out from releasing a set of basketball cards, Topps returned to the market in a BIG way! Nicknamed "Tall Boys", their 1969 cards each measure 2 ½" x 4 11/16" in size. For comparison, a standard card size is 2 ½" x 3 ½". You can see the front of the card features a player name and position at the top with the team name at the bottom. Each player is in a cool oval-shaped cutout in the center with a few characters around the border.
Wilt leads the way here at card #1. Even in that warmup jacket, Chamberlain could probably drop 50! While PSA has graded over 3,000 examples of this card, zero have been graded a 10. There are two known PSA 9 examples. The last sale of a PSA 9 was back in 2022 and the price was $276,000.00; expect that value to be much higher today. You can obtain a lower-grade such as a PSA 5 for a very reasonable price of around $300.
Wilt was back at card #1 in 1972, one of the final cards released during his playing career. Playing all 82 games in this season, Chamberlain averaged 19.2 rebounds per game. How good was his rebounding during the twilight of his career? In 2025-26, the NBA league leader was Nikola Jokic at 12.9 rebounds per game. The 1972 Topps card is not only fun to look at with the team name going up a ramp, but this was the season Wilt won his second and final NBA championship. PSA has graded close to 2,500 examples of this card and returned 5 PSA 10 and over 100 PSA 9. Mid and low-grade cards are very affordable; you can usually find a PSA 5 for $100 or so.
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