Chicago Bulls Cards: Jordan, Pippen, and Rose

Last updated April 20, 2026  ·  Team hub NBA Bulls Refreshed monthly

No modern franchise carries a single card that dominates its franchise comp work the way the 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie dominates Bulls collecting. The Bulls won six championships in eight seasons between 1991 and 1998, pulled NBA basketball cards back into the mainstream as the 1986-87 Fleer set broke the 1981 to 1986 NBA card freeze, and produced the single most-collected modern sports card in the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan. This hub is the working list of the Bulls cards the hobby is actually paying for in 2026, era by era, with the tentpole card named for each player and a short note on why it trades.

Two rules anchor the page. First, this hub tracks rookie-card franchise affiliation, not career trajectory. Dennis Rodman won three championships in Chicago from 1996 through 1998, but his rookie card is 1986-87 Fleer #35 as a Detroit Piston, so it sits outside the tentpole list. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan joined the Bulls after long rookie tenures with Minnesota and Toronto, respectively, and both players' rookie cards stay on those other franchise hubs under the same rule that holds Kareem off the Lakers list. Second, within each era, one card per player does the heavy lifting in comp work. Michael Jordan is the one exception, with his 1986-87 Fleer base rookie and his 1986-87 Fleer Stickers insert trading as genuinely distinct comp sets at very different price tiers, in the same pattern that gave Kobe Bryant two slots on the Lakers hub and Larry Bird two slots on the Celtics hub.

At-a-glance: twelve Bulls tentpole cards by era

Dynasty foundation, 1984 to 1988

1986-87 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan (rookie)

Jordan's rookie card sits at #57 in the 1986-87 Fleer set, the single most-collected modern sports card and the unambiguous Bulls franchise anchor. The card printed on standard Fleer cardstock with a blue and red border format, and the set came to market in late 1986 after Jordan's second NBA season, two full years after his 1984-85 rookie campaign. PSA 10 examples cleared $840,000 at Goldin in February 2021 during the modern-rookie peak window, and the comp set has corrected through the 2023 and 2024 compression but remained in a band that defines the ceiling for 1980s basketball rookies. PSA 9 examples have traded in a band from the mid five figures into the low six figures across the 2023 through 2025 window, and PSA 8 examples have traded in the mid four to low five figure range during normal comp depth.

The card's condition risks sit on the blue border print and on centering, where the blue pigment chips easily and where the off-center print is common across the print run. PSA pop is the deepest for any 1986-87 Fleer card, with tens of thousands of graded copies across all grade tiers, which gives the Jordan rookie the thickest comp depth of any basketball card in print. For Bulls collectors, the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan is mandatory, and the base-card tentpole runs through every era of Bulls collecting as the ceiling reference for every other franchise card.

1986-87 Fleer Stickers #8 Michael Jordan

The 1986-87 Fleer Stickers #8 Jordan is the companion-insert sibling to the base rookie and the second Jordan slot on this hub. The Stickers insert ran 11 cards in the 1986-87 Fleer release at a print run estimated well below the base flagship, and the Jordan sticker carries an adhesive back with a peelable paper liner that most collectors left intact. The sticker grades alongside the base rookie at PSA, with PSA 10 examples clearing into the mid six figures at public sale across the 2021 peak and trading in a band from the mid five figures into the low six figures across the 2023 through 2025 compression and partial rebound. The Stickers insert also carries its own Jordan comp set that does not cross-reference cleanly against the base rookie, which is why the hub treats the two cards as distinct tentpoles rather than as a single Jordan entry.

The Stickers insert trades as a parallel comp set against the base Fleer rookie in the same way the 1983-84 Star Larry Bird trades against the 1980-81 Topps Bird on the Celtics hub, and in the same way the 1996-97 Skybox E-X2000 Credentials Kobe trades against the 1996-97 Topps Chrome Kobe on the Lakers hub. The two Jordan cards are never a single comp conversation for serious collectors, and any Bulls collection that frames itself around a single Jordan piece benefits from knowing which of the two cards it is anchoring against.

Dynasty core, 1987 to 1993

1988-89 Fleer #20 Scottie Pippen (rookie)

Pippen's rookie card sits at #20 in the 1988-89 Fleer set, the only Pippen rookie vehicle and the working second-anchor of Dynasty-era Bulls collecting. Pippen spent eleven seasons in Chicago, won six championships, made seven All-Star teams, and was named to the NBA 50 and 75 Greatest Players lists, which gives the rookie card legitimate Hall of Fame-tier demand. The 1988-89 Fleer set printed on cardstock similar to the 1986-87 Fleer flagship with a similar blue and red border format, and the set carries similar centering and border-chipping condition risks. PSA 10 examples have traded in a band from the mid four figures at the 2023 compression trough into the low five figures during Pippen career-anniversary moments, and PSA 9 examples trade at roughly 15 to 25 percent of PSA 10 comps at matched windows.

The Pippen rookie also benefits from the 1988-89 Fleer set's reputation as a deep rookie class with David Robinson, Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, and John Stockton second-year cards sharing the same shelf, which keeps the set in collector attention even outside Bulls franchise interest. Pippen's career-record of never finishing higher than second in NBA MVP voting also carries a Hall of Fame narrative that gives the rookie card a stable floor through most market cycles. For Bulls collectors, the 1988-89 Fleer Pippen is the second Dynasty-era tentpole and the working pick for a co-anchor alongside the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan.

1988-89 Fleer #43 Horace Grant (rookie)

Grant's rookie sits at #43 in the 1988-89 Fleer set, the only Grant Bulls rookie vehicle and the anchor for the first Bulls three-peat starting frontcourt. Grant started at power forward across the 1990-91, 1991-92, and 1992-93 championship runs, left Chicago in 1994 for Orlando in a contract dispute, returned to win a fourth title with the 2001 Lakers, and ended his career with four NBA championships. The rookie card trades at deep discounts to the Pippen at matched grades, with PSA 10 examples clearing the low three figures at public sale across the 2023 through 2025 window, and PSA 9 examples clearing the mid to high two figure range during normal comp depth. The discount reflects Grant's role as a supporting starter rather than a franchise cornerstone, but the Hall of Fame-adjacent three-peat narrative gives the card a stable floor in Bulls collector attention.

Collectors sometimes mistake Horace Grant's rookie for his identical twin brother Harvey Grant, who also printed inside the 1988-89 Fleer set as a Washington Bullets rookie at a separate card number. The two Grant brothers are separate players with separate rookie cards and separate career paths, and the cross-up is common enough that a careful read of the card back and team logo is advisable on any 1988-89 Fleer Grant purchase. For Bulls collectors who want the first-three-peat starting frontcourt tentpole alongside the Jordan and Pippen rookies, the Horace Grant 1988-89 Fleer is the working pick.

Dynasty finale, 1993 to 1998

1993-94 Upper Deck #188 Toni Kukoc (rookie)

Kukoc's rookie card sits at #188 in the 1993-94 Upper Deck set, one of a handful of Kukoc rookie vehicles from that year and the most-collected of the set. The 1993-94 Upper Deck Kukoc also has a 1993-94 Topps #84 companion rookie plus 1993-94 Fleer Ultra, 1993-94 SkyBox, and 1993-94 Stadium Club issues, but the Upper Deck base has historically carried the deepest collector attention and the thickest comp depth. Kukoc had played six professional seasons in Europe before joining the Bulls in 1993, which put his NBA rookie season at age 25 after a decorated FIBA career that included a gold medal at the 1990 World Championship and three EuroLeague Final Four MVP awards. PSA 10 examples of the Upper Deck base rookie have traded in a band from the mid two figures at the 2023 compression trough up through the low three figures during Kukoc Hall of Fame-election moments.

The Kukoc rookie is also structurally important to Bulls Dynasty collecting as the only Bulls rookie of the Jordan era between 1989 and 1998. Between 1989 and 1998, the Bulls drafted a series of role players whose rookie cards never qualified for tentpole demand, and Kukoc is the only 1990s Bulls rookie who played a starting role during championship runs. Kukoc was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2021 as a FIBA contributor primarily, which gives the rookie card a secondary demand driver that most 1990s Bulls role-player rookies lack.

Post-Jordan rebuild, 1998 to 2007

1999-00 Topps Chrome #217 Elton Brand (rookie)

Brand's rookie card sits at #217 in the 1999-00 Topps Chrome set, the first post-Jordan Bulls flagship rookie and the working anchor of the 1999 lottery pick. Brand was drafted first overall in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Bulls and won the 2000 Rookie of the Year award in a tie with Steve Francis, which gave the rookie card legitimate hobby-comp depth from the start. Brand played only two seasons in Chicago before a 2001 trade to the Clippers, where he developed into a two-time All-Star and a 2006 USA Basketball FIBA Americas gold medalist. The 1999-00 Topps Chrome set printed on chrome stock with a reflective photo-forward front, and the chrome stock carries the standard edge-chipping and surface-defect condition risks of the Chrome era. PSA 10 examples have traded in a band from the mid three figures at the 2023 compression trough up through the mid four figures during Brand career-anniversary moments.

The 1999-00 Topps Chrome Refractor parallel of the Brand rookie adds a second scarcity dial and trades at a multiple of the base Chrome at matched grades, with PSA 10 Refractor examples clearing the low four figures when they surface. The Brand rookie is also the first Chrome-era Bulls rookie and sets the visual and structural template for the 2001-02 Chandler, 2003-04 Hinrich, 2004-05 Gordon, 2004-05 Deng, 2007-08 Noah, and 2008-09 Rose rookies that follow in the post-Jordan rebuild sequence.

Lottery era, 2001 to 2007

2001-02 Topps Chrome #126 Tyson Chandler (rookie)

Chandler's rookie card sits at #126 in the 2001-02 Topps Chrome set, the working Bulls lottery-era anchor and the second Chrome-era Bulls tentpole. Chandler was drafted second overall out of Dominguez High School in California, one of the last high school players to enter the NBA before the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement set the one-year post-high-school age floor. Chandler developed slowly in Chicago as a 7-foot-1 center with limited offensive polish, but his defensive identity took shape in New Orleans and Dallas, and he peaked with a 2011 NBA championship and the 2012 Defensive Player of the Year award. PSA 10 examples of the base Chrome have traded in a band from the high two figures at the 2023 compression trough up through the mid three figures during Chandler career-anniversary moments, with the Refractor parallel adding the standard Chrome-era premium at matched grades.

The Chandler rookie is also structurally important to Bulls post-Jordan collecting as one of only two Bulls draft picks from 2001 through 2005 who went on to win an NBA championship (the other is Luol Deng, whose Bulls rookie appears in the near-miss section because Deng's second-year cards carry more collector attention than his rookie). For Bulls collectors building a complete post-Jordan Chrome-era tentpole run, the Chandler 2001-02 Topps Chrome is the lottery-era anchor.

Rebuild era, 2003 to 2007

2003-04 Topps Chrome #136 Kirk Hinrich (rookie)

Hinrich's rookie card sits at #136 in the 2003-04 Topps Chrome set, the only Hinrich Bulls rookie vehicle and the working rebuild-era Bulls anchor. Hinrich spent two stints in Chicago (2003 through 2010, and 2012 through 2016), made zero All-Star teams, but functioned as the durable on-floor leader of the Baby-Bulls rebuild and the 2012 through 2014 Rose-era supporting cast. The rookie card trades at a modest tier, with PSA 10 examples clearing the mid two figures at public sale across the 2023 through 2025 window and the Refractor parallel adding a 2x to 3x premium at matched grades. The comp set reflects Hinrich's role as a durable starter rather than a franchise cornerstone, but the card retains stable collector attention among Bulls rebuild-era completists.

The Hinrich rookie also functions as a structural bridge between the Chandler 2001-02 Chrome lottery-era anchor and the Noah 2007-08 Chrome Rose-era tentpole, covering the 2003 through 2006 Baby-Bulls window that produced playoff teams without producing tentpole rookies beyond Hinrich himself. Ben Gordon's 2004-05 Topps Chrome #222 rookie carries similar Baby-Bulls demand at a comparable price tier and sits in the near-miss section, and Luol Deng's 2004-05 Topps Chrome #168 rookie anchors a third Baby-Bulls flagship that never reached tentpole tier.

Rose era, 2007 to 2014

2007-08 Topps Chrome #136 Joakim Noah (rookie)

Noah's rookie card sits at #136 in the 2007-08 Topps Chrome set, the working Rose-era frontcourt tentpole and a Defensive Player of the Year anchor. Noah played nine seasons in Chicago, won the 2013-14 Defensive Player of the Year award, made two All-Star teams, and finished fourth in MVP voting in the same 2013-14 season when Kevin Durant took the award. The rookie card trades at a modest tier with PSA 10 examples clearing the low three figures at public sale across the 2023 through 2025 window, and the Refractor parallel adding a 2x to 3x premium at matched grades. The comp set reflects Noah's role as a high-energy center with strong defensive metrics but limited offensive polish, which keeps the rookie at a price tier below Rose but above the Baby-Bulls rebuild-era rookies.

The Noah rookie also functions as a Rose-era complement that carries its own DPOY and MVP-vote-four hardware-driven comp demand, in a pattern similar to the Celtics hub's Rajon Rondo rookie as a championship-roster card with independent collector attention. For Bulls collectors who want the full Rose-era tentpole pair, the Noah 2007-08 Chrome is the frontcourt half of the Noah-Rose Rose-era anchor.

2008-09 Topps Chrome #181 Derrick Rose (rookie)

Rose's rookie card sits at #181 in the 2008-09 Topps Chrome set, the working Rose-era franchise anchor and the second most-collected post-Jordan Bulls rookie after the 1986-87 Fleer base Jordan. Rose was drafted first overall in 2008 out of Memphis, grew up in Chicago, and won the 2010-11 NBA MVP at age 22 as the youngest MVP in league history. His April 2012 ACL tear in the first playoff game of that year collapsed the Rose-era ceiling and ended his peak as a superstar, but the rookie comp set reflects the 2010-11 MVP window and the narrative of a Chicago-native Bulls franchise player. PSA 10 examples have traded in a band from the low three figures at the 2023 compression trough up through the mid three figures during Rose career-anniversary and retirement-discussion windows, with PSA 9 examples clearing the mid two figure range at matched windows.

The 2008-09 Topps Chrome Refractor parallel of the Rose rookie adds the standard Chrome-era scarcity dial and trades at a multiple of the base Chrome at matched grades, with PSA 10 Refractor examples clearing the low four figures when they surface. The Rose rookie also carries a third tier of collector demand from the Chicago-native franchise narrative, with Rose born and raised in Englewood on the South Side of Chicago and drafted as a hometown Bulls star. For post-Jordan Bulls collectors, the Rose 2008-09 Topps Chrome is the unambiguous second-tier franchise anchor below the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan.

Butler era, 2011 to 2017

2011-12 Panini Past and Present #122 Jimmy Butler (rookie)

Butler's rookie card appears in the 2011-12 Panini Past and Present set at #122, one of several Butler 2011-12 rookie vehicles across Panini products after the 2011 NBA lockout compressed the card release window. Butler also has 2011-12 Panini Hoops, 2011-12 Panini Prestige, 2011-12 Panini Threads, and 2011-12 Panini Preferred rookie cards, with the Past and Present carrying the deepest collector attention for Bulls-era completists. Butler was drafted 30th overall from Marquette in 2011, which made him the last pick of the first round and one of the most-cited draft steals of the post-CBA era. PSA 10 examples of the Past and Present base have traded in a band from the mid two figures at the 2023 compression trough up through the high two figures during Butler career-anniversary and playoff-run windows.

The 2011-12 Panini Past and Present Butler rookie trades at deep discounts to what a Topps Chrome or Panini Prizm Butler rookie would have commanded, and the discount reflects the structural break in the NBA card product line between the 2010-11 Topps Chrome farewell (Topps lost the NBA exclusive license after 2009-10) and the 2012-13 Panini Prizm debut. Butler's 2012-13 Panini Prizm card is a second-year flagship at #201 rather than a rookie, and for Bulls collectors the 2012-13 Prizm Butler carries comparable collector attention to the 2011-12 Past and Present rookie as a second-vehicle Butler comp. The Past and Present 2011-12 remains the working Bulls rookie slot under the rookie-card-franchise-affiliation rule.

Modern era, 2019 to present

2019-20 Panini Prizm #253 Coby White (rookie)

White's rookie card sits at #253 in the 2019-20 Panini Prizm set, the working modern Bulls Prizm anchor and the first Bulls homegrown Prizm-era rookie. White was drafted seventh overall from North Carolina in 2019 after a freshman season that broke multiple scoring records, made the 2020 All-Rookie Second Team, and transitioned from bench scorer to starting point guard across 2022-23 and 2023-24. PSA 10 base examples have traded in a band from the high one figure range at the 2023 compression trough up through the mid two figures during White breakout-scoring windows, with the Silver Prizm and color Prizm parallels carrying the collector premium at multiple-x base comps.

The 2019-20 Panini Prizm Refractor parallel hierarchy on White follows the standard Panini ladder with Silver, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, Gold, and Black Finite parallels stacking at progressively shorter print runs, and the Superfractor 1/1 trades in a thin market when it surfaces. White carries a modest current-era tentpole profile as the bridge-player between the Rose-and-Butler rebuild legacy and whatever shape the next Bulls competitive window takes. For modern Bulls collectors who want the homegrown current-era Prizm anchor, the 2019-20 Prizm White is the working pick.

What these twelve cards say about Bulls collecting

Pattern 1: Jordan dominates Bulls comp work to a degree no other player dominates any franchise hub

The 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie carries more collector attention, more comp depth, and more market weight than any other card on this hub by an order of magnitude, and by a wider margin than Russell dominates Celtics collecting or Mikan dominates Lakers collecting. A PSA 10 Jordan rookie trades at six-figure comps while the second-most-valuable Bulls card on this hub (the Fleer Stickers Jordan companion) trades at five-figure comps at matched grades, and the third-most-valuable card (the Pippen 1988-89 Fleer rookie) trades at low five-figure comps at PSA 10. The gap is structurally larger than on any other NBA team hub in the HCI catalog, and the pattern reflects Jordan's singular role in modern basketball history and in the 1986-87 Fleer set as the product that revived NBA cards after the 1981 to 1986 freeze. For Bulls collectors, almost every other card on this hub functions as a supporting tier beneath the Jordan anchor.

Pattern 2: the franchise-affiliation rule cuts deeper on the Bulls than on any other NBA team

The Bulls won three championships from 1996 through 1998 with Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, and Luc Longley all as key rotation players, but none of those four has a rookie card that is a Bulls issue. Rodman's rookie is 1986-87 Fleer as a Piston, Kerr's rookie is 1988-89 Fleer as a Suns player, Harper's rookie is 1986-87 Fleer as a Cavalier, and Longley's rookie is 1991-92 Upper Deck as a Timberwolf. Similarly, the post-Butler Bulls of the 2020s acquired Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic via trades, and all three of those players' rookie cards anchor Timberwolves, Raptors, and 76ers franchise hubs respectively. The franchise-affiliation rule that HCI applies uniformly across the team-hub catalog cuts deeper on the Bulls than on the Celtics or Lakers because the Bulls built championship teams around acquired veterans more than around homegrown rookie cards, which pushes many second-three-peat narratives off the Bulls tentpole list entirely.

Pattern 3: post-Jordan Bulls rookies carry thin comp depth because the franchise produced no Hall of Fame-tier player between Pippen and Rose

Between the 1988-89 Fleer Pippen rookie and the 2008-09 Topps Chrome Rose rookie, the Bulls drafted Elton Brand, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Jay Williams, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah as lottery picks, and none of those eight players reached Hall of Fame-tier career outcomes. Brand made two All-Star teams, Chandler made one and won a title, Deng made two, and Noah made two plus a DPOY. None of the eight anchored a Finals run in Chicago, and as a result, the post-Jordan Bulls rookie cards trade at structurally thinner comp depth than comparable post-dynasty rookies on the Celtics or Lakers hubs. Rose's 2011 MVP is the one piece of superstar hardware from this window, and his rookie card reflects that narrative without crossing into Hall of Fame-tier demand. The pattern also means that post-Jordan Bulls rookie collecting concentrates on condition, parallel rarity, and Chrome-era aesthetic rather than on player narratives.

Pattern 4: the modern Bulls market is Prizm-led and follows the standard Panini parallel ladder

From 2012-13 Panini Prizm forward, the primary scarcity dial on Bulls flagship rookies is the parallel ladder rather than the base card. The 2019-20 Prizm Coby White is the current-era anchor, with Silver Prizm, color Prizm, and Superfractor parallels stacking at progressively shorter print runs. The pre-Prizm post-Jordan Bulls rookies followed the same Chrome-era template through Topps Chrome from 1999-00 Brand through 2009-10 Derrick Rose second-year cards, with Refractor parallels carrying the collector premium at matched grades. The continuity from 1999-00 Topps Chrome through 2019-20 Prizm gives modern Bulls collectors a stable parallel-ladder framework for post-Jordan collecting, mirrored by the modern parallel-ladder patterns on the Celtics and Lakers hubs. For Bulls collectors building a parallel-focused collection, the Silver Prizm tier on Rose, Butler, and White functions as the working ceiling-card slot below Superfractor 1/1 territory.

Bulls cards that almost made the tentpole list

Twelve is a working lid, and several Bulls cards sit just outside it. On the acquired-veteran side, the franchise-affiliation rule means Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Luc Longley, Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, and Lauri Markkanen all have rookie cards from other franchises, so their cards sit outside the tentpole list even though several were core championship or All-Star Bulls. Rodman's 1986-87 Fleer #35 is a Detroit Pistons rookie, Kerr's 1988-89 Fleer #119 is a Phoenix Suns rookie, Harper's 1986-87 Fleer #45 is a Cleveland Cavaliers rookie, LaVine's 2014-15 Panini Prizm #291 is a Minnesota Timberwolves rookie, DeRozan's 2009-10 Topps Chrome #102 is a Toronto Raptors rookie, and Vucevic's 2011-12 Panini Past and Present is a Philadelphia 76ers rookie. Each of those cards carries collector demand inside its own franchise hub, and the rule that excludes them from the Bulls tentpole list is the same rule that excludes Parish and Garnett from the Celtics list.

On the pre-Jordan era side, the Bulls existed from their 1966 expansion through 1984 without producing a Hall of Fame-tier franchise rookie. Artis Gilmore played in Chicago from 1976 through 1982 but his rookie card is 1971-72 Topps #143 as a Kentucky Colonel in the ABA, which sits outside Bulls affiliation under the franchise rule. Reggie Theus was drafted ninth overall by the Bulls in 1978 and his 1978-79 Topps #37 rookie is a Bulls issue, but Theus's career outcome did not reach tentpole-tier demand. Bob Love was a Bulls forward through 1976 with several 1971-72 and 1972-73 Topps Bulls-issue cards, but Love's rookie card is 1969-70 Topps #98 as a Milwaukee Bucks issue before his 1969 trade to Chicago. Jerry Sloan played for the Bulls from 1966 through 1976 but his rookie is 1965 Topps as a Baltimore Bullet. The pre-Jordan Bulls tentpole slot is empty for structural reasons.

On the Dynasty-era near-miss side, B.J. Armstrong's 1989-90 Fleer #19 rookie carries modest collector attention as a three-peat starting point guard, but comp depth is thin. John Paxson's 1985-86 Star #5 rookie is a San Antonio Spurs issue from before his 1985 trade to Chicago, which keeps Paxson off the tentpole list under the franchise-affiliation rule despite his 1993 Game Six championship-winning three-pointer. Scott Williams, Stacey King, Will Perdue, Craig Hodges, and Cliff Levingston all have 1989-90 or 1990-91 Fleer Bulls-issue rookie cards at modest collector tiers, and any of these could function as a Dynasty-era depth-completist pick below the tentpole line. On the post-Dynasty side, Eddy Curry's 2001-02 Topps Chrome #183 rookie, Jay Williams's 2002-03 Topps Chrome #139 rookie, Ben Gordon's 2004-05 Topps Chrome #222 rookie, and Luol Deng's 2004-05 Topps Chrome #168 rookie all sit at rebuild-era collector tiers without quite reaching the tentpole line. Deng in particular has a strong two-All-Star career argument that places him closest to the tentpole line among post-Jordan near-misses.

On the Butler-era near-miss side, Nikola Mirotic's 2014-15 Panini Prizm #282 rookie is a Bulls issue from Mirotic's draft-pick-plus-2014-arrival pattern (drafted 23rd overall in 2011 but held a Real Madrid contract until 2014), and the rookie carries modest Bulls collector attention. Tony Snell, Marquis Teague, Doug McDermott (drafted by Denver and immediately traded to Chicago), and Cameron Payne all carry Bulls-era rookies at minor collector tiers. On the modern side, Patrick Williams's 2020-21 Panini Prizm #278 rookie carries collector attention as the 2020 fourth overall pick, but injuries have kept his career arc below the tentpole line through his first four seasons. Ayo Dosunmu's 2021-22 Panini Prizm #291 rookie and Dalen Terry's 2022-23 Panini Prizm rookie function as current-roster depth picks at modest price tiers, and none has reached tentpole-tier demand.

How to use this list

Team hubs are reference pages, not buy recommendations. Three habits make a team list like this one useful in 2026. First, always pull the 90-day sold-comp history for the specific card and grade before transacting, because the Jordan 1986-87 Fleer rookie especially moves in wide bands on thin public sales, and the PSA 10 Jordan comp set can swing five figures in either direction inside a 30-day window on auction-house-led market events. Second, separate flagship rookies from parallels and inserts, because the comp sets behave differently during market corrections. For the modern Rose, Butler, and White rookies, a PSA 10 base Prizm or Chrome and a PSA 10 Silver Prizm or Refractor comp are not part of the same conversation. Third, when building a Bulls collection on an unlimited budget, the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan rookie and the Fleer Stickers Jordan companion are the ceiling anchors, but the Pippen, Grant, Kukoc, Brand, Chandler, Hinrich, Noah, Rose, Butler, and White rookies are where the hobby-native collector story compounds across multiple eras.

For deeper context, the guide on what counts as a rookie card clarifies why Rodman and Harper cards do not appear on this hub despite both players winning championships in Chicago, and the guide on how to value a card walks through the grade-scarcity premium math that drives 1986-87 Fleer and 1988-89 Fleer pricing. The 10 Most Valuable Basketball Rookie Cards listicle covers the Jordan 1986-87 Fleer rookie in more detail, and the basketball cards hub carries the broader cross-franchise context.