ERROR 404: Luka 2nd Year Auto Not Found.
As a Luka Collector, I was waiting for this season for a chance to get some autos from the wonder boy himself. Last year, I was stupid enough to pass on his auto cards due to the “Lulu” issue.
Rumor has it that it was his mom that signs the cards so there’s a blatant discrepancy between his earlier autos and the majority of the cards in circulation.
See the difference below:
So I was adamant to get some of his autographed cards. I thought that may be due to this reason, he will start signing cards himself (IF EVER THE RUMOR WAS TRUE) hence, I was targeting his Sophomore year autos.
I was doing my research, watching box breaks but I have never stumbled upon someone who managed to get a Luka Doncic Auto. I was scouring eBay and to no avail, still no available auto. So I dug deeper and lo and behold, I was late to the news.
We’re not really seeing any Luka Doncic 2nd-year autos because he signed with a different company for exclusive rights!
Boy, I felt stupid. I was a year late to the party. Luka Doncic signed an exclusive deal with Fanatics for his signed memorabilia.
“Doncic is partnering with Fanatics on his first exclusive memorabilia deal, allowing the company to become the sole distributor of his highly sought-after collection of autographs and collectibles. The partnership will provide Mavericks fans around the world access to the largest selection of officially licensed items including signed jerseys, basketballs and photos, from one of basketball’s most exciting young stars.”
Now, what does this means? That means that Fanatics holds all the rights for Luka Doncic. He joined other athletes like Joel Embiid, Klay Thompson, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Kris Bryant, Jared Goff, and Peyton Manning.
But there are some lights after the dark tunnel. Upon researching, I found out that there’s a set that contained a Luka Doncic Autograph. I’m thinking this set was produced before Luka signed the contract so they’ve managed to push through.
Given this development, I’m now hesitating to buy an Immaculate or any succeeding high-end product since I’m not sure if the Logoman was affected by exclusivity or not.
Looks like we won’t be seeing some Autographed cards for a while but we can get memorabilia of the wonder boy at Fanatics website.
EDIT: It looks like Panini still managed to saved some sticker autos so there’s still some sets that has Luka’s auto like Crown Royale, Certified and Contenders. It was the on-card autos that are gone.
Happy Collecting!
Disclaimer:
All information provided is for educational purposes only. My goal isn’t to tell you how to spend your money but to simply show you my own personal perspective of the hobby.
You are responsible for your own investment decisions. I am not, in any way, an investment professional. I’m just a normal human like you that walked the path you’re about to walk.