A Victor Wembanyama rookie card that was previously the subject of some controversy sold in a private deal for $5.11 million, making it the most expensive known sale of a non-autographed NBA card.The sale of the San Antonio Spurs center’s 2023-24 Panini Prizm one-of-one Black parallel rookie card, which has a Gem-Mint PSA 10 grade, was brokered by Fanatics Collect. It’s the fourth highest publicly known sale of an NBA card, according to online card sales database Card Ladder.The buyer, who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity due to personal security concerns stemming from the high value of the card, said he paid as much as he did because he believes this is and will remain Wembanyama’s best card. This sale is more than five times higher than the previous record for a Wembanyama card, the $860,100 paid for his 2023-24 Panini Prizm Nebula Choice one-of-one card with a PSA 9 grade in a February 2025 auction through Goldin. That sale came shortly after Wembanyama sustained a blood clot in his right shoulder that cut his second NBA season short.The Victor Wembanyama rookie card that recently sold for $5.11 million. (Courtesy of PSA)Wembanyama has no officially licensed autographed rookie cards because he is under exclusive contract with Fanatics and rival cardmaker Panini held the exclusive NBA trading card license during his rookie season.“There’s a sort of obvious ceiling for him, just as an athlete, that I think is higher than most people that are like the ordained superstars, like the next guy that we anticipate them being pantheon people,” the buyer of the $5.11 million Wembanyama card said. “Like Cooper Flagg, for example. Or (someone who) didn’t pan out from a few years ago like when Zion Williamson came in and there was a lot of talk about him. If you take all these players and you say, ‘What’s their ceiling?’ I think Victor Wembanyama’s (ceiling) is substantially higher.”The buyer said that the booming Shohei Ohtani card market also played a role in being assertive in pursuing and purchasing this Wembanyama card.“I went after what I think most people would say is Shohei’s best card and the price just kept going up,” the buyer said. “I just went in soft at the beginning thinking it was enough. So I learned my lesson. I would argue that I don’t think I overpaid for this, but I just knew I had to be aggressive before everybody else figured it out who has the card, where it is, how to contact them.”This is the third known sports card sale over $5 million this year alone.An Aaron Judge 2013 Bowman Chrome Superfractor autographed one-of-one card with a Beckett 9.5 card/10 autograph grade sold for $5.2 million in March in a private sale also brokered by Fanatics Collect. And in February, a Honus Wagner 1909 T206 Sweet Caporal card with a PSA 1 grade went for $5.12 million in an auction via Goldin.