Bowman Basketball is back. Not back like your ex texting at midnight — back like a legend returning to the sport they never should have left. Seventeen years is a long time to wait. The hobby didn't forget.
Let that number sink in for a second. Seventeen years. The last time Bowman dropped a full-scale basketball release, the iPhone was barely a year old. Drake was still on Degrassi. The hobby was a different world. And now, in 2025, Topps and Fanatics have unlocked the vault, dusted off the logo, and sent Bowman Basketball roaring back onto the hardwood with one of the most loaded checklists this side of a Prizm National redemption stack. This isn't a soft relaunch. This is a statement.
And oh, what a moment to make it.
The Class That Had to Have Its Own Set
You don't bring Bowman Basketball back for a weak draft class. You bring it back for this one. The 2026 NBA Draft is being called one of the strongest in a generation, and leading the charge is AJ Dybantsa out of BYU — a name that's been bouncing off hobby walls for two years already. If you've been sleeping on prospect cards, Bowman is your alarm clock, and it is going off loudly.
But Dybantsa isn't alone. Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Caleb Wilson (UNC), Madison Booker (Texas), and Juju Watkins (USC) are all in the product — and here's where 2025-26 Bowman Basketball makes history that goes beyond just the brand returning. For the first time ever, officially licensed NCAA college players and NBA stars share the same checklist. One product. Two universes. Zero excuses not to rip.
You want to chase a Dybantsa auto and a Cooper Flagg Bowman Chrome rookie in the same box? That's not a dream. That's the box configuration.
The Rookie Wall Is Stacked
Speaking of Cooper Flagg — the No. 1 pick, Dallas Mavericks, already must-have territory — he's got company in this rookie class that would make any collector sweat through their sleeves. Dylan Harper is here repping San Antonio. Ace Bailey is heading to Utah. VJ Edgecombe lands in Philly. Kon Knueppel is building something in Charlotte. This is a five-alarm fire of first-year talent, and Bowman gets them early — before the Prizm wave, before the Select hype cycle, before the market has fully decided who's going to be a star.
That's the whole Bowman gospel: get in before everyone else figures it out. Prospect cards at their earliest stage mean maximum upside before the draft. If one of these names blows up next summer, you want the Bowman auto, not the "I should've grabbed that when I had the chance" feeling.
Veterans, Inserts, and an Insert That Features Actual Garbage Pail Kids
The checklist doesn't stop at rookies. You've got SGA, Tatum, Curry, LeBron, and Giannis sharing the same cardboard neighborhood as Flagg — which is basically the NBA's Mount Rushmore plus one very expensive new wing.
Now let's talk inserts, because this is where Topps put their whole personality into the set. Young Kings is a natural. ROY Favorites for the rookie-chasers. Anime NBA for the culture. RetroFractors featuring Bill Russell and Shaq as young players — because apparently we're just giving collectors everything they've ever wanted now.
And then there's Bowman GPK NBA. As in Garbage Pail Kids. As in Topps took two of their most iconic brands, duct-taped them together in the best possible way, and produced something so wonderfully absurd that you'll be hunting those cards just to show people at the shop counter. The hobby loves when cardboard gets weird. This one gets weird in the best way.
The Bottom Line at the Counter
Seventeen years. A generational rookie class. The first NCAA-NBA crossover product in hobby history. RetroFractors with Russell and Shaq. Garbage Pail Kids basketball cards. Cooper Flagg next to LeBron.
If you weren't already excited, read that paragraph again.
Bowman Basketball isn't just back. It's back with something to prove, a point to make, and a checklist that demands your attention whether you're chasing a Cooper Flagg auto, hunting a Dybantsa prospect card before the draft lottery changes everything, or just ripping for the pure, unapologetic joy of it.
That's what the hobby is. That's what this set is.
Shop 2025-26 Bowman Basketball — Hobby Boxes and Mega Boxes — now at IfItsSports.com.
Order with confidence. Rip with excitement. Shop IfItsSports.com.