If you were a kid in the late eighties or early nineties, you probably had a shoebox full of "junk wax" cards. You know the ones. Gray borders, fuzzy photography, and enough overproduction to pave a highway from Chicago to Portland. Somewhere in that stack, buried under a pile of Bill Cartwrights and B.J. Armstrongs, sits a scottie pippen nba hoops card.
Most people look at these and see a $2 piece of cardboard. They’re kinda right, but also completely wrong.
Collecting Scottie is a weird game. While Michael Jordan cards were being treated like gold bullion from day one, Pippen was always the "other guy." But if you look at the 1989 NBA Hoops set specifically, things get interesting. This wasn't just another set; it was the dawn of a new era in the hobby. It was the first year Hoops hit the market, and they decided to put Scottie on card #244.
Why the 1989 NBA Hoops #244 is a sleeper
Let's be honest: the 1988 Fleer is his "true" rookie. Everyone wants that one. It’s the prestige play. But the scottie pippen nba hoops card from 1989 has this strange, nostalgic gravity. It’s his first Hoops appearance.
The card features a young Pip in that classic red Bulls jersey, staring down the court with that focused, almost weary expression he always had. He looks like a guy who just spent forty minutes playing lockdown defense.
✨ Don't miss: Lewis County High School Football: Why Friday Nights in Hohenwald Hit Different
The market for these is basically a tale of two cities. If you have a raw, beat-up copy with soft corners, it’s worth about as much as a pack of gum. Maybe $1 or $2. Seriously. But if you're looking at a PSA 10? That’s a different story. As of early 2026, a Gem Mint 10 of the 1989 Hoops Pippen can fetch between $30 and $50.
That might not sound like "Ferrari money," but consider the population report. There are thousands of these sitting in garages. Finding one with perfect centering—the bane of the 1989 Hoops set—is actually harder than it looks. The yellow borders on the front and the thin card stock made these incredibly prone to edge wear.
The 1990 All-Star variant and the "Double Pip" era
By 1990, NBA Hoops went into overdrive. They released a base card (#69) and an All-Star subset card (#9). The #9 card is actually the one people remember more. It has that bright, neon-adjacent aesthetic that screams 1990.
People often ask me if these are worth grading.
Honestly? Usually not.
Unless the card looks like it was cut yesterday by a surgical laser, the grading fees will eat your lunch. A PSA 9 of the 1990 All-Star card recently sold for about $15. When you factor in the $20+ shipping and grading cost, you’re literally losing money to prove your card is nice.
What about the "Dream Team" Hoops cards?
If you want to talk about the peak of the scottie pippen nba hoops card era, you have to look at 1992. This was the year of the Olympic Team—The Dream Team. Hoops leaned into this hard. Card #USBT.2 is a classic.
It’s Scottie in the Team USA jersey. It’s iconic because that team was iconic. Even then, the values stay grounded. You can pick up a PSA 9 of this card for around $120. It's affordable greatness.
Identifying fakes and "errors"
There’s a lot of nonsense online about "error" cards. You'll see listings on eBay for $10,000 claiming a "misaligned back" or "extra ink spot."
Don't buy the hype.
In the junk wax era, quality control was a suggestion, not a rule. "Errors" were just Tuesday at the printing press. Unless it’s a recognized, cataloged error—like the 1988 Fleer "Pippin" misspelling (which isn't a Hoops card)—it's just a damaged card.
As for fakes? People rarely fake the scottie pippen nba hoops card because the margins aren't there. It’s too expensive to forge a card that sells for $5. You're much more likely to run into a "reprint" that someone is trying to pass off as original, but even then, the feel of the 1989-1991 Hoops paper is very distinct. It’s got a specific matte texture on the back that’s hard to replicate without looking too glossy.
Actionable steps for your collection
If you've got a stack of these in the attic, here is how you should actually handle them:
- Check the Centering: Look at the borders of the 1989 #244. If the left border is way thicker than the right, it's a "binder card." Keep it for the memories, but don't send it to PSA.
- Look for "Snow": The 1990 Hoops cards often have white print dots (called snow) in the dark areas of the photo. A card with a "clean" image is much rarer than a grainy one.
- The "Raw" Strategy: Instead of buying graded 10s, look for high-quality "raw" lots. You can often find a group of ten Pippen Hoops cards for $10. One of them might actually be a 10.
- Protect the Surface: These cards scratch if you even look at them wrong. Use a penny sleeve before putting it in a top loader.
Scottie Pippen will always be the ultimate "value" buy in basketball history. He’s a Top 50 player of all time, a 6-time champ, and the greatest perimeter defender to ever lace them up. His Hoops cards reflect that—they are accessible, historical, and quintessentially 90s. They aren't going to fund your retirement, but they are a piece of the dynasty that you can actually afford to own.