1986-87 Fleer Sacramento Kings

When Fleer returned to the basketball card market in 1986, it produced one of the most famous sets in hobby history. While collectors often focus on Michael Jordan’s rookie card, the set also captured the Sacramento Kings during their first NBA season in Sacramento after relocating from Kansas City in 1985.

Featured here are Larry Drew, Eddie Johnson, Reggie Theus, LaSalle Thompson, and Mike Woodson—five players who helped introduce NBA basketball to Sacramento fans.

As a longtime Kings fan, I owned dozens of each of these cards, most of which were pulled from packs purchased at a local drug store that I’d ride my bike to as a kid. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep any of the Michael Jordan rookies that passed through my hands over the years.

Today, those Jordans might be worth enough to buy a new car, but these Kings cards tell a different story—the beginning of Sacramento’s NBA journey. Every card has a story, and these cards remind me where my Kings fandom began.