1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan Sticker #8

The sticker in every pack

When Fleer released its 1986-87 basketball set, it was the sport's first traditional card set in five years. Topps had walked away from basketball after its 1981-82 issue, and the licensed cards made in between, by the Star Company, came in very low print runs and were hard to find. Fleer's checklist ran 132 cards and was so full of first cards of future Hall of Famers that collectors still rank it among the most important sets ever made.

Every pack also held one sticker from an 11-piece insert set. The stickers are standard card size and feature the league's top players: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Akeem Olajuwon, Isiah Thomas and Dominique Wilkins. Jordan's is #8.

Because it came from the same packs in the same year as Jordan's #57 base card, the sticker counts as a second rookie issue for him. Histories of Fleer describe the insert as an 11-card All-Star sticker set that included a second rookie card and sticker of Michael Jordan.

A candy company that broke a monopoly

Frank H. Fleer founded Fleer in Philadelphia in 1885 as a confectionery business. In 1928 an employee, Walter Diemer, reworked an earlier failed formula into Dubble Bubble, the first commercially successful bubble gum. Its pink color became the standard for nearly every bubble gum that followed.

Fleer first put baseball cards in a candy product in 1923, but for decades Topps's exclusive player contracts kept it out of the big sports. It made a Ted Williams set in 1959 and American Football League cards from 1960, then spent years in litigation. A 1980 federal ruling ended Topps's exclusive right to sell baseball cards with gum, and Fleer began making baseball cards in 1981. That ruling was overturned after one season, but Fleer kept going by packing team-logo stickers instead of gum.

In 1986 Fleer issued an officially NBA-licensed basketball set, and from 1986 through 1988 it was the only major company making basketball cards. The Fleer family sold the business in 1989, and Marvel bought it in 1992. In 2005 Fleer stopped making cards, and Upper Deck bought the Fleer name for $6.1 million.

Jordan between a broken foot and 3,000 points

Chicago took Jordan out of North Carolina with the third pick of the 1984 draft, and he was Rookie of the Year in 1984-85, averaging 28.2 points. His second season fell apart early: he broke his foot in the third game of 1985-86, missed 64 games and played only 18 times all year.

He was back for the playoffs. On April 20, 1986, at Boston Garden, he scored 63 points against the Celtics, a single-game playoff record, and Larry Bird afterward described him as "God disguised as Michael Jordan." He averaged 43.7 points in three playoff games that spring.

The 1986-87 season, when these packs were on sale, was one of the great scoring years in league history. Jordan played all 82 games, led the league at 37.1 points per game and scored 3,041 points, making him the only player other than Wilt Chamberlain to reach 3,000 in a season. He also became the first player with 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season, and in 1987 he won the first of two straight Slam Dunk Contests. Magic Johnson still won the MVP award.

How to identify it, and why 10s are scarce

The sticker looks and feels different from the #57 card. Its front image is a little softer, which comes from the sticker printing process and is not a sign of a fake. The back is smooth and glossy rather than matte cardboard. Because the packs included gum, many genuine stickers have gum stains on the back. PSA gives those a stained (ST) qualifier.

Those traits make high grades hard to get. The glossy back shows every scratch and pressure line, and the stickers are known for poor centering and uneven cuts. They even came from the factory in slightly different sizes, so a short sticker is not by itself proof of trimming. A 2026 buying guide counted 128 PSA 10 Jordan stickers against 339 PSA 10s of the base rookie, and from PSA 6 up the sticker's population was smaller than the rookie's at every grade.

Counterfeits exist. Authenticators look for a darker, maroon-like red on the back, a yellow nameplate in the wrong color on the front, and fuzzy text and borders under a loupe. One of the most convincing fakes is printed on heavy paper and is not a sticker at all.

The market for a Gem Mint copy

Recorded PSA 10 sales climbed through 2020, from about $20,800 in June to $60,100 in December. Then they spiked with the wider card market in early 2021: $115,000 in January and $200,100 on February 5, 2021, the highest single sale found for this page. By late March 2021 a copy sold for $95,100, and 2022 sales ranged from about $35,000 to $75,000.

Later sales came in lower: $37,200 in October 2023 and $52,460 at auction in November 2025. For comparison, a November 2025 review of the set's top sales listed $612,000 in February 2021 as the PSA 10 record for the #57 Jordan rookie and said that card still sold for more than $230,000. The sticker has fewer PSA 10s than the base card but sells for a fraction of its price, and collectors who write about this card bring that up more than anything else.

From pack extra to set key

Collectors today treat the 1986-87 Fleer set as the 132-card base set plus the 11 stickers, and Jordan's #8 is the key to the sticker side. Buying guides call it the rookie's direct companion: issued in the same year, from the same packs.

Its appeal comes from the season these packs were on store shelves, when Jordan became the league's most electric scorer. Its condition problems (glossy backs, gum stains, off-center cuts) are why the top grade is still so thin.

The numbers

1986-87 season (card year)

82 G, 40.0 MPG, 37.1 PPG (league high), 3,041 points, 5.2 RPG, 4.6 APG, 2.9 SPG, 1.5 BPG, .482 FG, .857 FT. All-NBA First Team, second in MVP voting.

1986-87 defense

236 steals and 125 blocks, the first season in NBA history with 200 steals and 100 blocks

1985-86 season

18 G (broken foot), 22.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.9 APG, .457 FG. All-Star.

1986 playoffs

3 G, 43.7 PPG, including a record 63 points at Boston on April 20, 1986

1984-85 season (rookie)

82 G, 28.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 5.9 APG, 2.4 SPG. Rookie of the Year.

Career (15 seasons)

1,072 G, 32,292 points, 30.1 PPG (career record), 6.2 RPG, 5.3 APG

Honors

6 titles, 6 Finals MVPs, 5 MVPs, 10 scoring titles, 14 All-Star selections; Hall of Fame 2009

Timeline

1. 1885

   Frank H. Fleer starts a confectionery business in Philadelphia.

2. Feb 17, 1963

   Michael Jordan is born.

3. 1981

   Fleer begins making baseball cards after a federal ruling ends Topps's exclusive right to sell cards with gum.

4. 1984

   Chicago takes Jordan third overall in the NBA draft.

5. Aug 26, 1985

   Jordan shatters a backboard with a dunk at an exhibition game in Trieste, Italy.

6. 1985

   Jordan breaks his foot in the third game of the 1985-86 season and misses 64 games.

7. Apr 20, 1986

   Jordan scores a playoff-record 63 points against the Celtics at Boston Garden.

8. 1986

   Fleer issues its NBA-licensed 1986-87 set with an 11-sticker insert, one per pack; Jordan is sticker #8.

9. 1987

   Jordan finishes 1986-87 at 37.1 points per game and 3,041 points, joining Chamberlain as the only 3,000-point scorers.

10. 1987

    Jordan wins his first Slam Dunk Contest and makes the All-NBA First Team.

11. 2005

    Fleer stops making cards; Upper Deck buys the Fleer name for $6.1 million.

12. 2009

    Jordan is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

13. Feb 5, 2021

    A PSA 10 sticker sells for $200,100, the highest sale found.

14. Nov 13, 2025

    A PSA 10 sticker sells at auction for $52,460.

The world in 1986

• Jan 28, 1986

  The space shuttle Challenger breaks apart 73 seconds after launch, killing its crew of seven.

• May 25, 1986

  About 6.5 million people join Hands Across America, a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California.

• Jun 8, 1986

  The Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets in six games for the NBA title.

• Jun 19, 1986

  Len Bias dies of a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after the Celtics draft him second overall.

• Jul 5, 1986

  The Statue of Liberty reopens after an extensive refurbishing.

• Oct 27, 1986

  The New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games to win the World Series.

• Nov 25, 1986

  The attorney general announces that profits from secret arms sales to Iran were diverted to the Contra rebels.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this card every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

No completed sale at PSA 10 is on record yet. The same card at other grades:

Every grade and recorded sale for this card

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan Sticker #8 is number 33 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (34 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Gum stains on the back, common on copies pulled from packs, can actually be a reassuring sign that a Jordan sticker is genuine, since a recent counterfeit will not have them.
• In PSA 9 the sticker has a smaller population than the base rookie, yet a 2026 buying guide valued it at less than a quarter of the rookie's price.
• Abdul-Jabbar's sticker, #1, tends to run short on the sides because it sat first on the printing sheet.
• Fleer's foothold in sports cards came from a 1980 court ruling that ended Topps's exclusive right to sell baseball cards with gum.
• When that ruling was overturned, Fleer kept selling baseball cards by packing them with team-logo stickers instead of gum.
• Jordan's 3,041 points in 1986-87 made him the only player besides Wilt Chamberlain to score 3,000 in a season.