1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems PMG Green #66 Tim Duncan - BGS 8 | Rookie Card

Tim Duncan, while never flashy, was one of the few athletes in history to command a dynasty so dominant that it overshadowed some of the greatest basketball players on the planet. It is ironic then that what many view as Duncan’s best rookie card, the Emerald 1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems (PMG), is one of the most visually striking trading cards ever made. 

Over the course of two decades, Duncan turned the Spurs from a perennial bridesmaid into one of the NBA’s inner circle franchises. “The Big Fundamental” was an All-Star, All-NBA selection, and All-Defensive selection 15 times over while leading the Spurs to five titles and earning three NBA Finals MVPs along the way. In a crowded conference featuring the Malone-Stockton Jazz, three-peat Lakers, Nowitzki-led Mavericks, and Durant-era Thunder over the years, the West and any shot at the NBA Finals ran through San Antonio.

The card commemorates Duncan’s rookie debut season after he was taken with the first pick of the 1997 draft by the San Antonio Spurs. That year, he started all 82 games and took home Rookie of the Year honors while averaging a double-double with 21.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Joining Hall of Fame center David Robinson in the San Antonio frontcourt, he helped engineer one of the greatest year-over-year turnarounds in NBA history as the Spurs improved by 36 wins and began a remarkable 22-year streak of playoff appearances.

Precious Metal Gems have a unique appeal to collectors and those with nostalgia for one of basketball’s great transition moments in the late 90s. Fleer, a titan of the trading card industry, was acquired by Marvel in 1992 during a moment of relative unease in the trading card space. Several years later in 1995, Skybox International was added to Marvel’s portfolio, and with that came the opportunity for Jean MacLeod, a graphic designer that had seen Fleer through their redesign of Razzles packaging, to push the envelope of card design. Together with Marvel’s illustrators, MacLeod sought to key-in on the galactic design elements that Marvel was so known for, and the result was Metal Universe. Dazzling with their full-foil coatings, Jean, her late husband Earl Arena, and their graphic design team at Fleer wanted to be sure that when your pack contained a PMG, you knew you had something special. With color choices inspired by the emerald stone on her engagement ring, the team got to work and the rest was hobby history. 

While the set is distinctively eye-catching with its exceptional colors and metallic finish, the checklist is also unmatched in the basketball hobby. Not only does it feature Jordan and other 90s stars at the peak of their powers, Skybox Metal Universe also features the players that would come to define basketball in the new millennium in Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Tim Duncan. The 1997-98 Precious Metal Gems are credited by many with helping to bring card collecting out of the mass production era and exemplified the experimental nature of late 90s trading cards.

The Emerald Precious Metal Gems Duncan rookie is, simply, the peak of any Tim Duncan collection. 1997-98 Metal Universe’s Precious Metal Gems were serialized to 100, highly condition sensitive, and come in two colors. The last 90 cards in the print run were made a beautiful red, and are greatly sought after, while just the first 10 cards serialized were printed with a stunning green foil and are among the most highly coveted basketball cards on the market today, making this opportunity to own a piece of Tim Duncan’s hobby history extraordinarily rare. This print, preserved in breathtaking condition, is stamped “010/100” on the back to indicate that it was the final emerald parallel in the run. Though perhaps in different styles, both Tim Duncan and Precious Metal Gems helped shape the world of basketball and basketball cards that we know and love today.

This card has been authenticated and deemed to be in Near Mint-Mint condition, receiving a grade of 8 from Beckett Grading Services (BGS). It is among the most immaculate editions of the card ever certified as, at the time of cataloging, only three have received higher grades from Beckett.

The BGS certificate number for this card is: 0011393575.

Going Deeper - Tim Duncan

The Big Fundamental

Tim Duncan is arguably the greatest power forward in NBA history. Known as the “Big Fundamental,” Duncan mastered every skill there is to learn in the game of basketball. Humble and quiet off the court, his game spoke for itself. He did not rely on dunks and crossovers to attract appeal, but instead used efficiency, leadership, and teamwork, to become irreplaceable on his Spurs side throughout his glittering 19 year career. 

Drafted first overall in the 1997 NBA Draft, this card captures the beginning of a stellar professional career, unmatched by any other player at his position. As an outstanding student athlete, Duncan showed tremendous promise throughout both high school and college. In 1997, he graduated with honors from Wake Forest University before becoming the torchbearer of the 1997-98 rookie class. 

Duncan’s impact was immediate. The year prior, during the 1996-1997 season, the Spurs struggled, as they finished 13th seed in the Western Conference with a mere 20 wins against 62 losses. The addition of Duncan to Hall of Fame center David Robinson set up the Spurs with one of the most lethal frontcourts in the NBA entering the 1997-98 season. Duncan’s addition helped engineer what was, at the time, the greatest single-season turnaround in NBA history, as the Spurs drastically improved finishing the 1997-1998 season as the 4th seed with a 56-26 record. Duncan was named Rookie of the Year, and made the Spurs immediate playoff contenders. Although they bowed out in the Western Conference Semifinals, this great comeback season marked the beginning of the most successful new chapter for the Spurs franchise with a 22-year streak of playoff appearances, littered with Finals appearances and NBA championships. 

In Duncan’s second year in the NBA, he and the Spurs won their first NBA title. Duncan won Finals MVP and established himself as one of the faces of the league in the post-Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan era. This maiden NBA championship was the first of many, as he continued his run of success throughout the 2000s to establish one of the NBA’s great dynasties. The Spurs reached the Finals five more times with Duncan resulting in another four titles and two Finals MVP honors for the face of the franchise.

In addition to his playoff success, Duncan remained one of the most dominant players in the NBA throughout his career. He won 2 NBA MVPs, is a 15-time All-Star, was named to 15 All-NBA Teams including 10 All-NBA First Teams, and 15 All-Defensive Teams including eight All-Defensive First Teams. He stands with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird as the only players to be named college basketball’s Player of the Year, NBA Rookie of the Year, and MVP of both the All-Star Game and NBA Finals. In August 2020, Tim Duncan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 2022 Duncan was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Duncan also ranks 16th all-time in points, 6th all-time in rebounds, and 5th all-time in blocks in NBA history.