The Lakers have spent the offseason tearing down and rebuilding their look, and the new starting five comes with a fresh mix of star power, role players, and card-market heat. With LeBron James gone and the entire starting lineup from the playoff series against the Houston Rockets out the door, Los Angeles has moved into a new era fast. Walker Kessler’s blockbuster arrival only adds to the sense that this roster has been completely reshaped.
At the center of it all is Luka Dončić, who is now clearly the franchise’s face. LA is Luka’s city now, and his place at the top of the Lakers’ pecking order shows up just as loudly in the hobby.
His most valuable card ever is a 1/1 Logoman RPA from 2018-19 Flawless Basketball, and it went for $4.7M last September. That sale also topped the previous basketball card record by exactly $100,000.
Austin Reaves remains one of the few familiar homegrown pieces still standing, and he’s now one of the veterans in the room too. His 2025-26 season was his best by any and every metric since he entered the league, though injuries kept him from fully cashing in on that progress. On the card side, his top sale is a 1/1 Black RC from 2021 Prizm, which brought in $11,108 in a PSA 9 two years ago.
Quentin Grimes brings a different kind of value to the group. He’s the sort of player fantasy managers like to stash for steady production, and the Lakers are hoping to squeeze even more out of him if he lands a starting role. His biggest card sale actually edges out Reaves’ by a little more than $1,000: a 1/1 Logoman RPA from 2021 National Treasures that sold for $12,152 on Card Hobby’s auction site last November.
Sandro Mamukelashvili is another name whose role could grow in Los Angeles. He’s spent much of his career in limited minutes, but the Lakers’ roster setup points toward a bigger opportunity.
Last season, he posted his best and most efficient scoring numbers while starting just 13 games and averaging 22 MPG, and a larger workload could lift those totals again. His card market is much quieter than the others here, with his top sale coming in at $820 for a 1/1 Black Shimmer RC from 2021 Prizm three years ago.
Then there’s Walker Kessler, the offseason’s biggest addition for a team that needed help at center for a long time. After four seasons with the Utah Jazz, he arrives in Los Angeles on a four-year deal and is expected to anchor the middle.
His most valuable card overall is a dual Logoman RPA with Ochai Agbaji, but his top individual card is a 1/1 Gold Vinyl Rookie Ticket Auto from 2022 Panini Contenders. Graded PSA 10 AUTO 9, it sold in November 2023 for $5,632.46 and remains his priciest solo card by a wide margin.
In Other News...
Jazz Just Lost The One Break They Needed In Donovan Mitchell Trade
Utahs long view in the Donovan Mitchell trade always depended on patience, and for a while there was at least a plausible path to a bigger payoff if Clevelands timeline shifted. The Jazz moved Mitchell to the Cavaliers with an eye on draft assets that could gain value if the relationship between star and team did not last, which is why every hint about his future mattered so much in Salt Lake City.
Now Mitchell has agreed to stay in Cleveland, closing off the kind of opening Utah had quietly hoped for. Brian Windhorst noted the Jazz had reason to believe he might not be there for the long haul, but the extension changes the math on those picks and leaves Utah waiting on protections and complicated future selections to sort out the rest of the return. [Read more 🡒]
Walker Kessler Just Made His Utah Exit Feel Completely Final
Walker Kesslers time in Utah is officially over, and the timing makes the separation feel even more complete. Once the free agency moratorium ended, the Jazz finalized a trade that closes the book on a four-year run in which Kessler went from promising young big to one of the more recognizable players to come through the roster in recent seasons.
Kessler marked the moment with a public goodbye on social media, thanking the organization, his teammates, coaches and fans for the stretch he spent in Salt Lake City. For Utah, it is another reminder of how quickly a players arc can change once contract talks and roster decisions start to harden, and for Kessler it leaves behind a clear legacy even as the next chapter begins elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]