Mohamed Diawara’s rookie season with the New York Knicks is now headed for trading card immortality.
The 2026 NBA Champion’s 1-of-1 debut patch card is set to appear in Topps Chrome Update, giving his first night in the league a permanent place in the hobby. Diawara wore the NBA debut patch on October 28, 2025, against the Milwaukee Bucks, and because Topps was in its first season expanding the patch program to the NBA, he became the Knicks’ only rookie in the set.
That also makes his card the first Knicks debut patch card in card history.
His NBA debut was short, but it still opened the door to a rookie year that ended with a championship. Diawara finished the season as a first-time NBA Champion, even though he didn’t take home Finals MVP.
The card itself won’t carry the same frenzy as Cooper Flagg’s 1-of-1 rookie debut patch card, which the Dallas Mavericks star unveiled at Fanatics Fest in New York City. Soon after that reveal, a collector put a $2 million bounty on Flagg’s incoming sophomore card.
Diawara’s market is in a different lane, though there’s still real interest. The jersey he wore in that debut against the Bucks sold for $5,376 at Sotheby’s in March. Outside of this debut patch card, his only other rookie cards came in the Topps NOW 16-card team set released after the 2026 NBA Finals.
The title run also sent Knicks card values climbing across the board. Jalen Brunson’s top card sale had once been a 1-of-1 rookie card that brought in more than $96,000 in 2024, but that mark was broken four times in June 2026. Brunson’s 1-of-1 cards sold for $99,000, $102,000, $102,000 and $312,000.
Diawara also enters this offseason with more than a championship ring to show for his year. He signed a new four-year contract worth up to $11 million. He was pushed out of Mike Brown’s rotation during the playoff run as the margins got tighter, but at 21, he still projects as part of the Knicks’ future.
The Knicks have not made any offer for the card, unlike the Pittsburgh Pirates’ approach with Paul Skenes’ debut patch, which included a willingness to trade 30 years of season tickets and more. Whoever ends up landing Diawara’s card will almost certainly have plenty of collectors watching closely.
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