Thought it would be the appropriate time to show off Dirk's best rookie card in light of the Dallas Mavericks winning their first NBA Championship and Dirk taking home MVP honors. For Dirk, even though in my eyes he's always been one of the greatest to ever play the game, many felt this championship forever cemented his legacy and now puts him up there in the elite of elite NBA players. Who would've thought back in 1998 when the Bucks drafted him then shipped him off to Dallas in a draft day swap for Robert Tractor Traylor, that Dirk would become not only a star, but the best European player ever to play in the NBA. This card probably had little fan fare when it was first released, I'm sure people were chasing Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, even Mike Bibby, Jason Williams, Larry Hughes, Antawn Jamison and Raef LaFrentz before they even though twice about this card. Even when Dirk established himself as a legit star, this card always played third fiddle to the scorching hot Vince Carter, and to an extent Paul Pierce. Well no longer, as there is no doubt in my mind that this is the cornerstone of the SP Authentic set. This was a groundbreaking set at the time, as this along with SPX-Finite actually serial numbered their rookie cards thus creating high demand for these rookie cards. The SP Authentic rookies are serial numbered to 3500, which seems like a lot these days, but in 98-99 they were pretty scarce and these cards sold like hotcakes. Title or not, this card was always in consideration for my countdown just one of the casualties of the numbers game. I'm glad this card is getting the respect it deserves and looking at the prices on EBay, I'm glad I got mine a couple years ago and didn't wait till now!
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