When you trace the history of the basketball card hobby back to its roots, you inevitably find Bowman. But the story of Bowman Basketball isn’t just a tale of vintage cardboard; it’s defined by constant evolution, quiet hiatuses, and massive returns that reflect the growth of basketball itself.
As Topps prepares to launch the 2025-26 Bowman Basketball set, they are leaning into that legacy, returning to their roots to completely redefine the modern basketball prospect. To find out how Topps tackled this monumental return to the NBA, I sat down with Clay Luraschi, VP of Product Development, to get the full story on Bowman’s history and what it takes to build a set that collectors will be talking about for long after its release.
Before the chromium parallels, case hits and autographs of today’s market, Bowman Gum took a massive swing on a relatively new professional sport. In 1948, Bowman produced the first widely distributed, complete set of NBA trading cards.
“Bowman started in 1948 when the league started,” explained Clay Luraschi, VP of Product Development at Topps.
That inaugural 72-card release captured the pioneers of the game, but it is best known for delivering one specific holy grail: the George Mikan rookie card (#69). Today, Mikan’s 1948 Bowman rookie is considered one of the most historically significant and sought-after basketball cards in the world, with high-grade copies commanding hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Despite the historic nature of the 1948 set, Bowman’s run on the hardwood was incredibly brief.
“Topps acquired Bowman in 1956, and then the brand was dormant until 1989,” Luraschi noted. When Topps finally revived the name decades later, they gave it a brand-new identity. “It came back as a prospect brand that focused on prospects of the game, and it held that shape for a bit.” The 1989 Bowman Ken Griffey Jr Rookie card remains a must have for many collectors. However it wasn’t until 1994 when the brand returned to basketball.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Bowman would appear periodically to capture new generations of talent. It resurfaced in the 1996-97 with Bowman’s Best, catching the legendary 1996 rookie class with Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, and Ray Allen. It later emerged as Bowman Signature to welcome Yao Ming to the league.
But the core brand’s biggest modern milestone arrived right alongside a generational talent. “LeBron comes onto the scene and there’s a resurgence in basketball trading cards,” Luraschi recalled. “He’s the chosen one, and it’s his rookie year. So the base Bowman brand comes back.”
The brand remained a staple until the 2009-10 season, Steph Curry’s rookie year, before stepping back once again. Fittingly, that final release under Topps’ previous NBA license was branded as “Bowman 48,” serving as a direct homage to the original set that started it all.
As the sports landscape shifted to allow collegiate athletes to profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), Topps saw the perfect opportunity to bring their premier prospect brand back to life.
“As Bowman continued to pave the way as a prospect-focused brand, it made sense for us to create Bowman University in this new world of NIL,” Luraschi explained. “We now had an opportunity to create college trading cards in a meaningful way, so we felt Bowman made the most sense.”
The college-focused product was a massive success, giving collectors a chance to chase the “1st Bowman” cards of global phenomena like Caitlin Clark and Victor Wembanyama before they ever turned pro.
Now, after another long hiatus from the NBA, the iconic brand is returning to the professional market. However, Topps is using the 2025-26 Bowman Basketball release to merge the collegiate and professional worlds into a single, groundbreaking product.
“As the license comes back to Topps, we say to ourselves, ‘Wow, what a way to make an incredible statement,'” Luraschi said, “by making one Bowman that features both college and professional players.”
This dual-license format is a first of its kind in Basketball but should feel familiar to fans of Bowman baseball. The set is built around a 200-card base set and a 100-card prospect insert set that perfectly reflects how deeply college athletes are ingrained in modern pop culture alongside established NBA superstars.
The Ultimate Chase: Collectors will be able to hunt for the rookie cards of top NBA draft picks, like Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, and Kon Knueppel, alongside active legends like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Cade Cunningham. But in the exact same product, collectors can chase the “1st Bowman” college cards of future superstars like AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Caleb Wilson, Mikel Brown Jr., and Nate Ament.
Highlighting the Women’s Game: The 2025-26 set will also prominently feature elite women’s college basketball stars, including Madison Booker, Sienna Betts, and Juju Watkins. “There’s a lot of great male and female basketball players, and you have to put the best of the best out there,” Luraschi emphasized. “It’s important that everyone is in this product.”
Historic Autograph Signers: Each Hobby Box (retailing for $359.99 and containing 20 packs with eight cards each) guarantees exactly two autographs: one NBA and one NIL. Autograph hunters have massive targets this year, including the highly anticipated first-ever Topps autographs of Anthony Edwards, as well as the first Topps signatures from Cameron and Cayden Boozer. You will also find signatures from Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and LeBron James across new autograph subsets like Future Script, Buzz Factor, Opening Statement, Timeless Touch, and Bowman Dual Autographs.
Familiar Inserts & New Innovations: Topps is carrying over highly popular case hits like high-energy Anime designs, Bowman GPK crossovers, minimalist Bowman Spotlights, Etched in Glass, and Crystalized. They are also introducing RetroFractors, a nostalgic twist on Bowman heritage featuring legends who never had official 1st Bowmans. The set is rounded out by prospect-driven inserts (Talent Tracker, Gen Next, Bowman Verified) and NBA-focused chases (ROY Favorites, Young Kings, and Rookie Red RC).