2019-20 Hoops Zion Williamson #296 Purple

This card file is the odd one out among the classics on this site: a modern basketball parallel rather than a vintage baseball card. It is here because collectors searching for it are often really trying to work out which Zion Williamson Hoops card they have, and what a graded one has actually sold for.

Zion Williamson in brief

Zion Williamson, born in July 2000 in Salisbury, North Carolina, played one season at Duke (2018–19), where he was ACC Player of the Year, and was the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, by the New Orleans Pelicans. A preseason meniscus tear delayed his NBA debut to January 2020. He was named an All-Star for 2021 and 2023, but injuries — a foot fracture that cost him the 2021–22 season, then hamstring and back problems — have interrupted his career; he played 62 games in 2025–26.

#258 versus #296

2019-20 Panini NBA Hoops has a 300-card base set. According to Checklist Center's checklist, Zion's regular base card is #258, among the 2019 rookies concentrated around #201–259. Card #296 is a different card: it belongs to the Hoops Tribute subset, #281–300, at the end of the base checklist. Both carry the same year and brand on a grading label, so the card number is the quickest way to tell them apart.

Price-guide site SportsCardsPro lists the #296 Purple with “Rookie card: No”, while noting that many sales listings describe it as an RC. Whether the Tribute card counts as a rookie card is therefore a matter of how the seller labels it; the checklist position is not in dispute.

Where “Purple” fits

Hoops is a parallel-heavy product. Checklist Center lists Purple among the base parallels without a print run, alongside other unnumbered colors such as Blue, Neon Green, Red Backs, Teal Explosion and Yellow. The numbered parallels sit above them: Silver /199, Green /99, Red /75, Blue Explosion and Teal /49, Orange and Orange Explosion /25, Red Explosion /15, plus Artist Proof versions down to a Black 1/1. A separate “Purple Winter” parallel is tied to the Winter blaster and should not be confused with plain Purple.

Checking a graded copy

Run the cert number through PSA's lookup and read the variety field. A PSA record we checked for a 2019 Panini Hoops #296 Zion Williamson graded GEM MT 10 lists the year, brand, number, player and grade — and no “Purple” designation — meaning it is the regular Tribute card. A Purple should say so on the record; if a listing calls a slab “Purple” and the cert record does not, treat it as the regular Tribute card unless PSA confirms otherwise. Our cert-verification guide covers the process for every grader.

Sales data

The spread between a $21.50 and a $142.50 PSA 10 within two years shows how thin the market is — SportsCardsPro estimates roughly four PSA 10 sales a year. With an ungraded copy guided at about $2.50, the numbers above are also a reminder that not every card with a famous name on it is a high-value card. Population figures for this specific parallel were not publicly readable when we checked, so none are quoted here.