1981-82 Topps Basketball Cards

Topps went back to a more conventional look for its last set of the Awesome80s. The set was unconventional in other ways. Cards 1-66 were released nationwide, but cards 67-110 were different depending upon which region you lived in. There were East, West, and Midwest subsets, which are listed separately below. Prices for the now 13 card packs rose to 30¢.

The set features the first non-shared (see 1980-81) cards for Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as well as rookie cards for Kevin McHale, Joe Barry Carroll (aka Joe Barely Cares - a nickname he earned after more than a decade in the league with no accomplishments except for being traded for Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale), Jim Paxson, Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn.

The set also provides "Super Action" and team leaders cards. The super action cards are a nice idea, but the set already features action photography and there is very little difference between the SA card of Bob Lanier pulling down a rebound and the standard card of Elvin Hayes doing the same.

Overall the set has nice, clear photos taken mostly at Bullets and Nets home games (as had been the case since 1976). But what a missed opportunity with the Darrell Griffith rookie! You can imagine all kinds of shots that could have been used for Dr. Dunkenstein with his 48" vertical leap, but his card shows him calmly shooting a free throw.

Stylistically, it is a vast improvement over the previous disaster of a set, but it is worth far less because of the Magic and Bird rookies in the previous set. The one complaint is the inclusion of the name "Topps" on the fronts. With Topps having lost its unfair monopoly on current baseball player cards in 1981, they started promoting their name more and this was one unfortunate side effect of that otherwise pleasant moment in time.

The exit of Topps from the basketball card market was not that surprising. While kids like me continued to buy them each year, they were largely ignored by collectors and did not appreciate in value in the way that baseball (and only baseball) cards did at the time. The Star Company would fill the void to some extent, but it wasn't until Fleer entered the market in 1986 that a proper set of basketball cards was once again available to collectors.

1 John Drew 2 Dan Roundfield 3 Nate Archibald 4 Larry Bird 5 Cedric Maxwell 6 Robert Parish 7 Artis Gilmore 8 Ricky Sobers 9 Mike Mitchell 10 Tom LaGarde 11 Dan Issel 12 David Thompson 13 Lloyd Free 14 Moses Malone 15 Calvin Murphy 16 Johnny Davis 17 Otis Birdsong 18 Phil Ford 19 Scott Wedman 20 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 21 Magic Johnson 22 Norm Nixon 23 Jamaal Wilkes 24 Marques Johnson 25 Bob Lanier 26 Bill Cartwright 27 Michael Ray Richardson 28 Ray Williams 29 Darryl Dawkins 30 Julius Erving 31 Lionel Hollins 32 Bobby Jones 33 Walter Davis	34 Dennis Johnson 35 Leonard Robinson 36 Mychal Thompson 37 George Gervin 38 Swen Nater 39 Jack Sikma 40 Adrian Dantley 41 Darrell Griffith 42 Elvin Hayes 43 Fred Brown 44 Hawks Leaders 45 Celtics Leaders 46 Bulls Leaders 47 Cavaliers Leaders 48 Mavericks Leaders 49 Nuggets Leaders 50 Pistons Leaders 51 Warriors Leaders 52 Rockets Leaders 53 Pacers Leaders 54 Kings Leaders 55 Lakers Leaders 56 Bucks Leaders 57 Nets Leaders 58 Knicks Leaders 59 76ers Leaders 60 Suns Leaders 61 Blazers Leaders 62 Spurs Leaders 63 Clippers Leaders 64 Sonics Leaders 65 Jazz Leaders 66 Bullets Leaders
WESTERN
W67 T.R. Dunn W68 Alex English W69 Billy McKinney W70 Dave Robisch W71 Joe Barry Carroll W72 Bernard King W73 Sonny Parker W74 Purvis Short W75 Larry Smith W76 Jim Chones W77 Michael Cooper W78 Mark Landsberger W79 Alvan Adams W80 Jeff Cook W81 Rich Kelley W82 Kyle Macy W83 Billy Ray Bates W84 Bob Gross W85 Calvin Natt W86 Lonnie Shelton W87 Jim Paxson W88 Kelvin Ransey	W89 Kermit Washington W90 Henry Bibby W91 Michael Brooks W92 Joe Bryant W93 Phil Smith W94 Brian Taylor W95 Freeman Williams W96 James Bailey W97 Checklist 1-110 W98 John Johnson W99 Vinnie Johnson W100 Wally Walker W101 Paul Westphal W102 Allan Bristow W103 Wayne Cooper W104 Carl Nicks W105 Ben Poquette W106 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Super Action) W107 Dan Issel (Super Action) W108 Dennis Johnson (Super Action) W109 Magic Johnson (Super Action) W110 Jack Sikma (Super Action)
MIDWESTERN
M67 David Greenwood M68 Dwight Jones M69 Reggie Theus M70 Bobby Wilkerson M71 Mike Bratz M72 Kenny Carr M73 Geoff Huston M74 Bill Laimbeer M75 Roger Phegley M76 Checklist 1-110 M77 Abdul Jeelani M78 Bill Robinzine M79 Jim Spanarkel M80 Kent Benson M81 Keith Herron M82 Phil Hubbard M83 John Long M84 Terry Tyler M85 Mike Dunleavy M86 Tom Henderson M87 Billy Paultz M88 Robert Reid	M89 Mike Bantom M90 James Edwards M91 Billy Knight M92 George McGinnis M93 Louis Orr M94 Ernie Grunfeld M95 Reggie King M96 Sam Lacey M97 Junior Bridgeman M98 Mickey Johnson M99 Sidney Moncrief M100 Brian Winters M101 Dave Corzine M102 Paul Griffin M103 Johnny Moore M104 Mark Olberding M105 James Silas M106 George Gervin (Super Action) M107 Artis Gilmore (Super Action) M108 Marques Johnson (Super Action) M109 Bob Lanier (Super Action) M110 Moses Malone (Super Action)
EASTERN
E67 Charlie Criss E68 Eddie Johnson E69 Wes Matthews E70 Tom McMillen E71 Tree Rollins E72 M.L. Carr E73 Chris Ford E74 Gerald Henderson E75 Kevin McHale E76 Rick Robey E77 Darwin Cook E78 Mike Gminski E79 Maurice Lucas E80 Mike Newlin E81 Mike O'Koren E82 Steve Hawes E83 Foots Walker E84 Campy Russell E85 Dewayne Scales E86 Randy Smith E87 Marvin Webster E88 Sly Williams	E89 Mike Woodson E90 Maurice Cheeks E91 Caldwell Jones E92 Steve Mix E93 Checklist 1-110 E94 Greg Ballard E95 Don Collins E96 Kevin Grevey E97 Mitch Kupchak E98 Rick Mahorn E99 Kevin Porter E100 Nate Archibald (Super Action) E101 Larry Bird (Super Action) E102 Bill Cartwright (Super Action) E103 Darryl Dawkins (Super Action) E104 Julius Erving (Super Action) E105 Kevin Porter (Super Action) E106 Bobby Jones (Super Action) E107 Cedric Maxwell (Super Action) E108 Robert Parish (Super Action) E109 Michael Ray.Richardson (Super Action) E110 Dan Roundfield (Super Action)

1981-82 Topps Basketball Cards

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