SGA, Castle, Mobley, NBA Rookies to Wear Special Jersey Patches for 2025-26 Season

Taking a page from MLB and MLS, the NBA is going to include special jerseys patches for select players during the 2025-26 season.

Fanatics announced on Wednesday that every rookie will wear a debut patch on their jersey, while award winners from the 2024-25 season will have a special gold NBA logoman patch on their jerseys.

The list of award winners from last season who will wear the gold patch include Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (MVP), San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (Rookie of the Year) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (Defensive Player of the Year).

"Imagine having LeBron [James]'s, [Michael] Jordan's, [Steph] Curry's debut patch and what that would mean?" Fanatics Collectibles CEO Michael Mahan told ESPN's Dan Hajducky. "Well, the next generational superstar will have a debut patch -- the ultimate rookie card [...] And trading cards haven't been associated with achievement, success and accolades: We're [bringing] that into trading cards."

The patch program matches what Fanatics, Topps and MLB teamed up for at the start of this season.

One reason for the patches is to eventually use them to make custom trading cards and merchandise that fans will have the opportunity to collect.

Mahan told Hajducky that Fanatics has a partnership with Certified Guaranty Company to authenticate the patches that will be taken from game-used jerseys.

Potential examples of the types of collectible cards that could be developed include putting the gold patches from Gilgeous-Alexander, Castle and Mobley together. This was something that Topps did for MLB with a one-of-one logoman patch card featuring the autographs of Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.

This also looks like a very good year for rookie cards and collectibles. The 2025 NBA draft class was led by phenom Cooper Flagg, whose 2024 Topps Chrome McDonald's All-American Half-Court Offense Signatures SuperFractor card sold for $84,500 at auction in April.

Other top prospects in this year's rookie class include Dylan Harper (No. 2 pick), V.J. Edgecombe (No. 3), Kon Knueppel (No. 4) and Ace Bailey (No. 5).