One card from this draft is worth $7,500. One is worth $50. Same set, same year, same PSA 10 grade.
Darko Miličić was the #2 pick. Dwyane Wade went #5. Nobody knew yet.
2003-04 TOPPS CHROME RC — PSA 10
LeBron James
#1 Overall · #111
$7,500
PSA 10 today
PICKS DETROIT PASSED ON
Darko Miličić
#2 Overall
$50
PSA 10 today
Carmelo Anthony
#3 Overall
$150
PSA 10 today
Chris Bosh
#4 Overall
$50
PSA 10 today
Dwyane Wade
#5 Overall
$250
PSA 10 today
*All card prices accurate as of publication date.
They were in the same box. The difference isn’t the card — it’s what happened after the draft.
The Hype Was Real
The scouts weren’t wrong.
Darko Miličić was 17 years old and already playing professional basketball in Serbia. Seven feet tall. Left-handed. Mobile enough to defend the perimeter, skilled enough to score in the post. Kevin O’Connor, Utah’s GM at the time, called him the best prospect he’d ever seen at that age. European coaches couldn’t shut up about him.
Detroit took him #2 overall — one spot after LeBron James. Passed on Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade to do it. Pistons coach Larry Brown reportedly wanted Carmelo. Management had other ideas.
For about 72 hours after the draft, a Darko Miličić 2003-04 Topps Chrome RC was selling for $40. A Dwyane Wade from the same set was moving for less.
The Ring. Sort Of.
In 2004, Darko’s rookie year, the Detroit Pistons won the NBA championship. Upset the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. One of the biggest upsets in Finals history.
Darko played 34 regular-season games. Averaged 1.4 points. 4.7 minutes. In the Finals, he appeared in two games — combined five minutes, two points. They called him “the Human Victory Cigar” — put in only when the game was already decided.
At 18, he was the youngest player ever to win an NBA title. He also barely touched the floor to earn it.
Card collectors didn’t care about the asterisk. They priced him like a champion anyway.
The Career — Timeline
June 2003
Drafted #2 overall by Detroit. Cards hit $40 within hours. Wade, Carmelo, and Bosh all go after him.
June 2004
Pistons win the NBA championship. Darko plays 5 combined Finals minutes. Earns his ring as the Human Victory Cigar.
2006
Traded to Orlando. Three seasons with Detroit: 5.7 minutes per game. The gap between expectation and reality becomes impossible to ignore.
2006–2013
Bounces through Orlando, Memphis, New York, Minnesota, Boston. Functional NBA big man — never more. Averages 8–9 points in his best stretches. Wade and Carmelo are becoming legends.
2013
Last NBA game with Boston. Final career line: 6.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.3 BPG over 13 seasons. $52 million earned. Zero All-Star appearances. Cards reach the floor.
The Market Today
The 2003-04 Topps Chrome set. Same cardboard. Same print run. Five different careers.
2003-04 Topps Chrome RC — PSA 10 Today
$50
Darko
#2 Pick
$150
Carmelo
#3 Pick
$50
Bosh
#4 Pick
$250
Wade
#5 Pick
*All card prices accurate as of publication date.
Detroit passed on Carmelo Anthony (#150), Chris Bosh (#50), and Dwyane Wade (#250) — five championships, 34 All-Star appearances, and two Hall of Fame plaques between them.
The three picks after Darko are collectively worth roughly $450 in PSA 10. Darko’s is worth $50.
LeBron James went #1 in 2003. His 2003-04 Topps Chrome PSA 10 is worth $7,500 today. Detroit used the very next pick on Darko Miličić — passing on Carmelo, Bosh, and Wade to do it. Darko’s card is worth $50. The hobby priced that decision a long time ago and never looked back.
