Opening a Topps 2025-26 Basketball Fat Pack

 

Every so often, I grab a new product just to see what’s out there. I don't need more projects, but you never know what might catch your eye! I spied these new 2025-26 Topps Basketball packs at the end of a Target aisle and decided to snag two. Time to crack one open—is it worth the hype?

These packs contain 36 cards and you have shot at an autograph, relic or an exclusive holo parallel.

The first 6 cards are OK.  Rather than getting the RC badge, Alex Sarr gets the All-Rookie Team designation.

The next 6 cards are just meh.

This batch is OK, with James, Murray and Butler.  John Broome gets the RC designation and for some reason Topps decided it was a good idea to throw in some former NBA greats such as Stockton.

Topps included a few landscape cards for good measure. I generally dislike mixing card orientations for standard player cards. I believe the landscape layout should be reserved for specific subsets, like the classic manager or team cards.

Three rookies in this batch, but I don't think any are making waves this season.

The set also has 30 combo cards.  In reality, these are checklists.  When I first looked at these I was expecting them to be team checklists, sadly that is not the case.  And, of course, Topps had to mix orientations in this subset.

Finally, a true insert!  Topps attempt at 8-bit graphics doesn't really hit home for me.  If you're going to pixelize things do it right!.

Clutch Prospects of Dylan Harper.  He plays for a pretty good team, maybe he'll excel there.

And my 'hit' of the pack, a Clutch City Prospects of Cooper Flag!  Other than the word 'city' I'm not sure what the difference is between Harper and Flagg's cards.  The generic city in the background is just lazy design.  I think this would have been much better with an outline of the team's home city.

Speaking of lazy designs, this card back looks very close to a Panini design.  And did Topps really have to notate this is the 'flagship' set on the back?

Overall I'm not really enthusiastic about this 300 card set.  Will I chase it?  No.  The two packs I bought were enough to turn me off on this set and I'm not really a fan of the design (though my mind wants to compare it to the '82 baseball design).

However, there is one insert that grabbed my attention:

image grab from ebay

The 1980-81 insert sets are really fetching.  Had Topps decided on this design for their flagship set, I would be buying boxes right now.  The base and chrome versions are very tempting to chase down.  With a 100 card checklist, this might be quick and easy to complete.

So, are these cards worth the hype?  You be the judge.

Until next time, happy hunting!