The Man Who Made $1 Million on a Luka Doncic Rookie Card… And Still Has It
A 1/1 Logoman RPA — the holy grail for almost any basketball card collector.
(If you’re new to the hobby and don’t know what that is, check out my handy primer here!)
For most of us, owning one is a pipe dream. For Bolillo Lajan San (otherwise known as “Shyne”), it’s just Tuesday at the office.
That’s ‘cause he has a lot of ‘em. He’s got this Trae Young Flawless, for example. And this Ja Morant Immaculate.
Oh, and then there’s that little Luka Doncic National Treasures you might’ve heard of. You know, the one that sold for a record-setting $4.6 million in 2021? Yeah, Shyne sold that.
…and then bought it back.
Here’s how it all went down:
December 2019: Shyne purchases the Luka Doncic National Treasures 1/1 Logoman RPA for $425,000
Shyne publicly revealed that he was the owner of the Luka Doncic NT 1/1 RPA in an Instagram post on June 13, 2020.
“Securing this card last year in December was very important to me,” he wrote in the caption. “Even though I had to pony up and pay the premium, which exceeded the highest paid price for any modern day sports card at the time […] I didn’t mind because I didn’t want to run the risk of it going into another collection and not seeing the light of day again.”
Just prior to the sports card boom of 2020 and 2021, $425k may have been considered a “premium” back in December 2019. Today, it looks like highway robbery!
February 28, 2021: Shyne sells the card for $4.6 million in a private deal
On a day that coincidentally coincided with Luka Doncic’s birthday, Shyne privately sold the one-of-a-kind card (as well as some others) for a total of $5.88 million.
Announcing the deal on Instagram, he wrote: “Many heard there was a deal brewing since back in November of 2020 for the 2018-19 National Treasures Luka Doncic Rc Auto Logoman 1/1. Even though there were a few adjustments to the sale price since then, today the buyer and I have finalized the deal at 4.6 million for the card. The total deal had a few other cards totaling 5.88MM yet the most important of it all is this sale being it’s the highest paid price for any basketball card in history to date. Congratulations to Nick! Now we both have a Luka Logoman. I couldn’t be happier to where this card is positioned and for the future to come.”
November 2022: Shyne places the winning bid on PWCC, buying the card back for $3.12 million
Some time in between February 2021 and November 2022, Nick Fiorello (the man who purchased the card from Shyne) sent the card to Beckett for grading, receiving a mint 9.
Fiorello then consigned the card with PWCC (now Fanatics Collect). The auction went live on November 3 and closed on November 17 with a final sale price of $3.12 million — currently the highest price ever fetched by a basketball card in a public sale.
On January 1, 2023, Shyne dropped a bombshell announcement via another Instagram post: he was the one who had placed the final bid back in November.
Let’s do the math real quick
Shyne invested $425,000 in the card and sold it for $4.6 million, snagging a $4.175 million profit. He then purchased it back for $3.12 million, giving him a net profit of $1.055 million.
Instagram users lauded his genius play in the comments:
“Lmao Shynes the goat. Give me my card back and I’ll pocket a milly!”
“Best investment ever!!!”
“The whole Chinese hobby community is talking about this deal. Definitely the best way to spark up the hobby in the new year! Congrats bro.”
A few years and a trip to the Finals later, Doncic is continuing to dazzle in the NBA. In fact, as of this writing, DraftKings has given the Slovenian maestro the second-best odds of winning the 2025 MVP at +370, just behind three-time winner Nikola Jokic.
With a neat million already in his pocket and no signs of Doncic’s already-legendary career slowing down, something tells me Shyne won’t be looking to sell again anytime soon.
Featured image via Fanatics Collect.
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The Luka Doncic 2018-19 National Treasures Logoman RPA 1/1 is one of the most valuable basketball cards of all time. Find out how one genius investor made $1 million off of it — and still owns the card!