The 1995 Fleer basketball set marked the company's tenth iteration since breaking into the basketball market with its landmark 1986 set.
And there are some major differences between the two...
None of the cards in the '95 Fleer set are anywhere near as valuable as their 1986 counterparts.
That shouldn't be surprising.
After all, the '86 Fleer basketball set has a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of basketball sets, given the amount of superstar rookies it contains.
But the '95 Fleer set likely wins in the design department.
Some collectors may prefer the classic look and feel of the '86 set, but ten years of innovation in design easily show through on the '95 set.
Bright, full-color player imagery and sharp graphics that surround them really make this set pop.
The 350-card checklist contains plenty of great-looking cards and some key rookies, too.
And in this guide, we look at the 15 most valuable.
Let's get started!
1995 Fleer #323 Michael Jordan
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $350
The "Firm Foundations" subset spanned cards #320 - 348, highlighting the top player from each team who served as its "foundation."
Not surprisingly, Michael Jordan won the honor of representing the Chicago Bulls.
While his base card in the 1995 Fleer set is his most desirable overall, this one can be worth more in a PSA 10 holder due to fewer of them achieving that status.
The imagery and graphics produce some excellent eye appeal overall.
And the reverse adds a nice write-up, stating, "Jordan can do what he wants when he wants with a basketball, which is an amazing feat in a league featuring the world's best athletes. Now in his 11th season, Michael has yet to meet a player--or a team, for that matter--capable of consistently stopping him."
Fleer was right.
Mostly.
Jordan could certainly do whatever he wanted and was incredibly dominant.
But, I'm not sure they got that last part right.
True, Jordan owned the 1990s and no one could stop him.
But the Lakers, Celtics and Pistons consistently got in his way during the 1980s.
Still, in the end, Jordan won six rings and left a legacy as the greatest player of all time.
1995 Fleer #22 Michael Jordan
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $200
Dawning the #45 instead of his trademark #23, Jordan was understandably rusty in his first game back late in the 1994-95 NBA season.
Things quickly improved from there.
MJ dropped nearly 27 points per game over 17 regular-season games, helping the Bulls finish the year with a 13-4 run.
However, Chicago couldn't get past the youthful, deep Orlando Magic in a six-game 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals loss.
In typical Jordan fashion, he set out for revenge during the 1995-96 season.
Leading the NBA in scoring for the 8th time with 30.4 points per game, Jordan led a rejuvenated and revamped Chicago Bulls squad to an unheard-of 72-10 record.
Chicago quickly dispatched the Miami Heat 3-0 in the First Round, followed by a 4-1 Semifinals romp of the New York Knicks.
In the Conference Finals, the Bulls faced exactly who Jordan had wanted to face: the Orlando Magic.
And he got his revenge.
The Bulls steamrolled the Magic 4-0.
In the Finals, the Seattle SuperSonics put up a slightly tougher fight than any other team, but ultimately fell in six to Jordan and the Bulls.
Jordan was an NBA Champion again.
He was a regular-season MVP and Finals MVP again.
Basketball was back to normal.
1995 Fleer #335 Kevin Garnett
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $125
Despite being a poor basketball team in practice during the 1995-96 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves had several talented young players on their roster.
Tom Gugliotta, Isaiah Rider and Christian Laettner all had solid careers.
But it was clear early on that none had the ceiling that Kevin Garnett had.
So it wasn't too shocking to see Fleer choose Garnett as the Wolves' representative for their "Firm Foundations" subset.
Afterall, the team had just used the fifth pick of the 1995 NBA Draft to select Garnett directly out of high school.
Clearly, the guy could play.
And he was the future of the franchise.
The reverse of the card states, "Only 19 years old in his rookie season, Kevin is proving to be impressionable and full of potential. With guidance from former Celtics great Kevin McHale, now the Wolves' Director of Basketball Operations, Garnett should show quick growth and start to become his own player."
Not only did he become his own player, he became one of the greatest to ever dawn an NBA uniform.
1995 Fleer #293 Kevin Garnett Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $80
Part of a short-lived era of high school stars gone pro, Kevin Garnett was expected to right the ship in Minneapolis when the team drafted him 5th overall in the 1995 NBA Draft.
Since entering the league in 1989, the Timberwolves franchise had never won more than 29 games in a season.
Garnett, they hoped, provided the solution.
At just 19 years old, Garnet possessed raw skill and athleticism paired with a killer instinct and impressive work ethic.
Still, he was unpolished during his rookie year.
Finishing sixth in the Rookie of the Year, Garnett averaged just 10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 80 games (43 starts).
And despite the Wolves finishing 26-56 and far outside the playoffs yet again, it was clear the future was bright in Minneapolis.
By the following season, Garnett was an NBA All-Star.
More importantly, he led them to the first of an eight-season stretch of making the playoffs.
Unfortunately, the first seven of those eight seasons saw Garnett and crew bounced from the playoffs in the First Round each time.
But during the 2003-04 season, Garnett led them all the way to the Western Conference Finals, something once thought unthinkable.
1995 Fleer #308 Arvydas Sabonis Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $50
Arvydas Sabonis made his professional basketball debut in Lithuania in 1981.
From there, Sabonis quickly established himself as one of the top European players before being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 1985 and the Portland Trail Blazers in 1986.
However, the Soviet Union would not allow him to play in the United States.
So most basketball fans in the USA didn't really get a good look at Sabonis until he helped the Soviet Union win gold in the 1988 Olympic Games and Lithuania win bronze in the 1992 Games.
Eventually, Sabonis made his NBA debut during the 1995-96 season.
Averaging 14.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, Sabonis made the All-Rookie First Team and finished runner-up for both Rookie of the Year and the Sixth Man Award.
Not bad for a 31-year-old rookie.
Sabonis would spend all seven seasons of his NBA career with Portland before retiring in 2003.
Widely recognized as one of the key players who opened the NBA door for so many future international players, Sabonis was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2011.
1995 Fleer #130 Shaquille O'Neal
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $45
After a heartbreaking sweep by the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals, Shaq and the Orlando Magic were ready to make another championship run.
It was now or never.
With Michael Jordan back full-time and the Bulls re-loading with Dennis Rodman, the road to the Finals would likely run through Chicago.
And the Eastern Conference, in general, wasn't getting any easier.
On paper, the Magic improved, finishing three games better than the year before at 60-22, which remains a franchise record.
And they did so without Shaq for a whopping 28 games as the big fella dealt with nagging injuries.
During the 56 games he was healthy enough to play, Shaq was Shaq, averaging 26.6 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
The only thing left to do was win a ring.
The Magic swept the Detroit Pistons 3-0 in the First Round and routed the Atlanta Hawks 4-1 in the Semifinals.
Unfortunately for Shaq and the Magic, they ran into a brick wall in the Eastern Conference Finals.
They were simply no match for a revamped Chicago Bulls squad that swept them 4-0.
Shaq left for the Los Angeles Lakers the following year and the Orlando Magic unsurprisingly fell apart.
1995 Fleer #71 & #224 Hakeem Olajuwon
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $40
Coming off back-to-back NBA championships, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon was indeed living the dream.
Now in his 12th NBA season, Olajuwon continued to produce at an elite level, averaging 26.9 points, 3.6 assists, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks.
A machine on both offense and defense, Olajuwon presented a match-up nightmare for just about every team the Houston Rockets encountered.
Olajuwon shocked no one with an 11th All-Star appearance and spots on the All-NBA Second Team and All-Defensive Second Teams.
As great as Olajuwon was, the Rockets managed only a 48-34 record, finishing 3rd in the Midwest Division behind the rock-solid San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz.
Yet that was still one game better than the year before.
And if they won a ring then, why couldn't they do it again and go for the three-peat?
Things started on the right track.
Despite a valiant comeback attempt from Magic Johnson, Olajuwon and crew easily handled the Los Angeles Lakers in the First Round.
However, a Seattle SuperSonics squad led by the two-headed monster of Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton crushed them 4-0 in the Semifinals.
Olajuwon appears twice in the set, wearing two different Rockets jerseys--I always preferred the classic look, but neither card is worth more than the other.
1995 Fleer #142 Charles Barkley
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $35
The 1995-96 NBA season made it clear that the best days of the Charles Barkley era in Phoenix were long gone.
Phoenix won 62 games during Barkley's first year with the team and almost fought off Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls for the 1993 NBA championship.
The next two seasons saw Barkley and crew win 56 and 59 regular season games before bowing out in the Western Conference Semifinals.
However, Barkley's fourth season in Phoenix showed he wouldn't get any closer to an NBA title if he stayed there.
Barkley averaged 23.3 points, 3.7 assists, and 11.6 rebounds, and rookie Michael Finley provided a spark with 15 points per game.
Still, the aging Suns played mediocre basketball all season, finishing at 41-41.
Even worse, Finley injured himself on the final day of the regular season, forcing him out of the playoffs.
Phoenix fell behind the San Antonio Spurs 2-0 in the First Round, and despite Barkley's effort to secure game 3, the Spurs closed the series out 3-1.
And that was it for Barkley and Phoenix.
By the following season, Barkley was in Houston alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, making one last run at a ring.
1995 Fleer #174 & #213 Dennis Rodman
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $35
Shaquille O'Neal and the Orlando Magic exposed the Bulls' weakness in the front court, especially on defense, during the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
During the offseason, it was time to look for help.
And one name quickly made his way onto head coach Phil Jackson and general manager Jerry Krause's list: Dennis Rodman.
Sure, Rodman came with his share of baggage and potential for distraction.
But they felt he was worth it.
Michael Jordan soon got on board with the idea.
Yet Scottie Pippen remained hesitant.
There were still some bad feelings stemming from the days of the Bulls-Pistons rivalry, particularly when Rodman threw Pippen into the stands during the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals.
Before bringing on Rodman, Jackson asked him to apologize to Pippen.
And he did.
Whatever hesitation there may have initially been from Pippen regarding signing Rodman, it quickly became a thing of the past.
Rodman did exactly what the Bulls brought him in to do: play defense and rebound.
"The Worm" led the NBA with 14.9 rebounds per game and joined both Pippen and Jordan on the NBA's First-Team All-Defensive team.
Rodman has two base cards in the set and if his #213 card with the Bulls is seen as more valuable, the difference is negligible.
1995 Fleer #26 Scottie Pippen
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $30
With Michael Jordan back full-time to open the 1995-96 season, Scottie Pippen returned to being his full-time sidekick.
But Scottie Pippen, in any "reduced" role, was still one of the top players in the league.
A fifth-place finish in the MVP race proved it.
Averaging 19.4 points, 5.9 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game, Pippen earned a sixth trip to the All-Star Game.
And he remained arguably even better on defense, finishing runner-up to Gary Payton for Defensive Player of the Year honors.
All season long, Pippen was a key cog in Chicago's run to an eye-popping 72-10 regular season finish.
More importantly, he did whatever the team needed him to do on its road to a fourth NBA championship.
Pippen remained a scoring threat during the Bulls' eighteen playoff games, but he kicked things up a notch on defense.
Averaging 2.6 steals per game and 0.9 blocks, Pippen played lockdown defense like few small forwards have ever played before or since.
If the Bulls needed him to shut someone down, he shut them down.
1995 Fleer #310 Jerry Stackhouse Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $30
1995 Fleer #173 David Robinson
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $25
Ever since his 1989 Rookie of the Year campaign, it was clear that David Robinson was on a trajectory to retire as one of the all-time greats.
Now in his seventh season, he'd already won an Olympic Gold medal, MVP and Defensive Player of the Year award to keep his ROY trophy company.
He just needed an NBA championship ring.
San Antonio came close the year before, losing 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals to the eventual champion Houston Rockets.
Completely locked in and ready to make another push for a title, "The Admiral" averaged 25 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 3 blocks to lead the Spurs to a 59-23 record.
Only the Seattle SuperSonics finished with a better record in the West, leaving San Antonio with a 2nd seed in the playoffs.
Riding a monstrous 40-point, 21-rebound performance from Robinson in Game 2 of the First Round, the Spurs took that momentum to finish the Suns in four.
Things weren't as easy for Robinson against the Utah Jazz in the Semifinals.
Utah managed to hold Robinson to under 20 points per game, finishing a hard-fought series in six.
Not to worry, Robinson would eventually get a couple of rings for his trophy case.
1995 Fleer #188 Karl Malone
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $25
One of the greatest power forwards in NBA history, Karl "The Mailman" Malone, is on the short list of the greatest players never to win a ring.
And it wasn't for a lack of opportunities.
Malone played nineteen seasons in the NBA.
And Malone went to the playoffs nineteen times.
When Utah selected Malone with the 13th pick of the 1985 NBA Draft, the Louisiana native teamed up with fellow Hall-of-Famer John Stockton to form one of the most lethal duos in NBA history.
Nobody could stop their pick and roll.
And, as expected, the Jazz played solid basketball throughout the 1995-96 season, utilizing a high-powered offense and stingy defense to finish 55-27.
Malone wasn't as solid as in previous years, but still managed to put up 25.7 points, 9.8 boards and 4.2 assists per game.
Utah played great basketball during the playoffs, winning a couple of tough series against Portland and San Antonio before facing off against Seattle in the Western Conference Finals.
It marked the third time Malone and Stockton found themselves that close to an NBA Finals appearance.
Unfortunately, they came up short yet again.
1995 Fleer #291 Michael Finley Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $25
1995 Fleer #316 Rasheed Wallace Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Value: $25
1995 Fleer Basketball Cards In Review
With ten years of making basketball cards under its belt, Fleer let the creativity shine through with the set design.
At times, the design elements can be a bit much.
But, in hindsight, they really represent the time period quite well.
Boastful graphics and wild fonts were all the rage during the early to mid-90s.
The 350-card checklist is pretty solid overall.
You'll find plenty of big-name stars and Hall of Famers as well as multiple key rookie cards.
Sure, some of the biggest names like Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and more didn't quite make the Hall of Fame, but they had solid careers.
There were several different subsets in the checklist, including:
- Raptors and Grizzlies Expansion Teams (#260 - 279)
- Rookies (#280 - 319)
- Firm Foundations (#320 - 348)
Like most sets of its era, this set's value will likely suffer in the long term because of overprinting and the fact that it was released after the hobby bubble burst.
Still, for the diehard collector, this set should bring back plenty of great memories.