The one-of-a-kind Cooper Flagg NBA Rookie Debut Patch Autograph card with splashy public offers from the Dallas Mavericks and a variety of collectors and auction houses was hit Monday night. Rhody Breakers, which operates out of Baseball Cards of RI in North Kingstown, R.I., pulled the card for a customer in a box break of 2025-26 Topps Chrome Updates Basketball streamed live on YouTube.

The card features a patch worn on Flagg’s jersey during his NBA regular-season debut that was then removed and used to create a one-of-one trading card meant to represent the ultimate rookie card for each player who has one. Flagg’s Debut Patch card is arguably the most coveted from the program, across all sports, to date.

The card, which will need to be redeemed by its new owner to receive it directly from Topps (a placeholder card was included in the pack so as not to damage the real one), was pulled by breakers Chris Card and Chris Louth for a customer using the name “Jason Williams.” Rather than purchase entire boxes individually, some collectors participate in breaks, where they can purchase the rights to a specific team or player and receive only the eligible cards from a set number of packs or boxes. The new owner of the Flagg Debut Patch card paid $515 to receive every Dallas Mavericks card in a break of three hobby boxes (a total of 60 packs, with four cards in each) of 2025-26 Topps Chrome Updates Basketball, which came out Thursday.

Baseball Cards of RI was founded by Robert Mott and Jerry Mazzone in 1988, and the breaking operation, Rhody Breakers, launched in 2019. According to Card, who is also a professor at the University of Rhode Island, the shop has three full-time employees and Rhody Breakers is made up of a trio of friends running the operation outside of their full-time jobs. Card says this is easily the most significant card pulled by the business in its 38-year history.

“People have opened big cards out of the shop, but from our breaks — $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 cards here and there over the years,” the aptly named Card told The Athletic. “But the industry’s also changed, so modern cards didn’t have $3 million or $4 million bounties on them even just a few years ago when (the hobby) was still at its COVID peak. This blows it out. It’s not even close. I expect this card to fetch $5 million-plus.”

Video of Card and Louth pulling Flagg’s Debut Patch card spread rapidly across social media Monday night due its significance. Collectors quickly noticed the card was found by a smaller card shop rather than one of the hobby’s behemoth breaking operations, which can open hundreds of cases (12 hobby boxes are in one case) of a product for customers. Even New York Knicks center and recently crowned NBA champion Karl-Anthony Towns entered the chase by opening 100 cases of the product on release day.

Hobbyists, who are used to celebratory screams from breakers after big hits, also noted Card’s calm reaction in the aftermath.

“Back in the day when we were doing this a little bit, I used to be a little louder and more hype because you want people to get excited,” Card said. “But it’s really not us, so we’re just more subdued. Honestly, it was a little more shocking for me. I didn’t even notice Flagg’s picture and name right away, so it took me a second to process. Chris (Louth) kind of flung back in the chair. He knew it right away.”

Cooper Debut patch has been hit by Rhody Breaks. Nice to see a big card get hit and people not yell and scream. pic.twitter.com/OTpO8mxiOr

— NEO Cards & Comics (@NEOCards_Comics) August 11, 2026

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An interview request to the Flagg card’s new owner wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday, but Card did describe a phone conversation with the customer after the break to The Athletic.

“I said, ‘What’s up buddy?’ and he didn’t say hello,” Card said. “He just goes, ‘That’s what we do, brother.’ … It was an incredible phone call. And his opening line, it was just something that you can’t write, you can’t script.”

According to Card, the Debut Patch’s new owner has been a longtime Rhody Breakers customer who found the company during the COVID-19 pandemic. The customer was expected to fly into Rhode Island to pick up the redemption, which was on display in the shop for customers to see in person Tuesday. A representative from Fanatics, which owns Topps, was already at the shop when Card spoke with The Athletic Tuesday morning.

After Monday night’s pull, the card’s future will become a significant storyline for the sports card world. Before the card was discovered, a number of high-profile bounties had already been placed on it, including one from Flagg’s own team. Last week, the Mavericks offered a package that includes two premium lower-level season tickets for 32 years, a Flagg-signed, game-worn rookie jersey and a variety of other experiences for the card. Offers from various hobby personalities and content creators have ranged from $1.5 million to $4 million. Goldin Auctions founder and CEO Ken Goldin offered a $1.5 million cash advance if the owner consigns the card with Goldin for an upcoming auction.

“We believe that Cooper Flagg has the potential to be a generational player,” Goldin told The Athletic. “For all of eternity this will be his best trading card ever issued. It’s not just a rookie card but a one-of-one with a patch worn during his first NBA game.”

It’s unclear what the card’s new owner has planned, though the majority of Debut Patches have ended up at public auction due to their secondary-market value. The highest public sale for any RDPA to date is the $1.1 million paid by Dick’s Sporting Goods for Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes’ Debut Patch card. Like the Mavericks, the Pirates offered a bounty for the Skenes card before it went to auction after being pulled by an 11-year-old boy on Christmas 2025. The card was eventually purchased by the retailer and placed on display in a Pittsburgh-area store.

Card hopes only that the Flagg Debut Patch provides publicity for the shop.

“It’s one of the older shops in the country, I would imagine,” Card said. “It’s something that feels really cool because these guys have been grinding for 38 years. Some years they weren’t even profitable, and they kept the shop afloat themselves by reinvesting into it with their own money, so the exposure for the shop is cool.

“Hopefully people can appreciate that a shop like this that’s been grinding got lucky this time.”

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408 Atlantic Ave., Westerly, R.I.

$1.780 million

Style Contemporary cottage

Year built 1987

Square feet 2,724

Bedrooms 3

Baths 3 full

Sewer Private

Water Public

Taxes $11,125 (2025)

Atlantic Avenue is the last road in Westerly before the waters of Block Island Sound. It’s the way to Misquamicut State Beach, Rhode Island’s most popular public beach, and it’s where this home sits at the crown of a horseshoe-shaped driveway.

The contemporary cottage is across Atlantic Avenue from the beach, but behind the house is another Westerly draw: Winnapaug Pond. As the state describes it, Winnapaug is a “a salt pond that provided a sheltered place to sail and a protected place for a children’ s bathing area.”

From the house, a kayaker can launch directly into the 476-acre pond and then paddle to the breachway connecting to the Atlantic.

Beauty doesn’t come without some work, which in this house means walking up to the 210-square-foot rooftop deck to admire the full views of both the beach and the pond.

Down one flight of stairs, on the third floor, is the primary bedroom and a white-framed slider to its own 67-square-foot balcony overlooking the pond. The expansive 230-square-foot bedroom has hardwood flooring and a pair of closets with bifold doors. Adjacent is a 192-square-foot family room, a 53-square-foot storage room, and a full shared bath.

The 99-square-foot full bathroom has a single sink in a long vanity with shaker-style cabinets, and the vanity has an unusual feature: a minifridge. There is a curtained shower/bath combination and ceramic tile flooring. The bath doubles as a laundry room with full-size appliances.

Stretching the legs once more, the second floor beckons. The stairwell ends in a foyer from which two bedrooms and a full bathroom flow. The bedrooms, near mirror images at about 180 square feet, each have sliders to the rear deck that runs the length of the home. The 82-square-foot bathroom has a white vanity inset into a shallow nook, white ceramic tile flooring, and a curtained shower.

A door at the opposite end of the foyer from the bath leads to an open floor plan combining the kitchen, dining area, and living room.

The 176-square-foot kitchen (updated in 2024) is on the left and is a U shape with an extra-large stainless steel refrigerator on the left and a six-burner gas stove on the right. The sink is in the middle and underneath a pair of windows. The Shaker-style white cabinets are backed by a white subway tile backsplash. The countertops are Fantasy Brown leathered granite, and the flooring is hardwood. There is a coffee/wine bar.

An 8-foot-long island with seating for four separates the kitchen from the living area, but also presents a great viewing opportunity. The seating is positioned to look directly through the clear glass sliders leading out to this level’s 393-square-foot deck. The living room has recessed lighting, but draws natural light from skylights at each corner of the cathedral-style ceiling. A large ceiling fan assists with cooling. The 123-square-foot dining area has two light sources: a large clear glass window and a pendant light with a lantern-like shape.

A final descent to the first floor leads to the aforementioned horseshoe driveway. Standing outside, there is an attached single bay garage on the left, a 158-square-foot patio in the middle, and an entry door on the right. The door opens into the 249-square-foot recreation room that makes its way to the rear of the home and a slider to the rear 359-square-foot deck. It’s one of the ways to get a kayak in the water from the backyard.

There are also two rooms, both with views of the pond, storage areas, and a full bath.

Listing agent Lori Joyal said the home has been rented for up to $9,000 a week and that the current homeowner’s annual flood insurance premium for $250,000 in coverage is $1,609.

The homeowner and their guests also have access to Misquamicut Fire District’s three beaches.

Joyal is in the Watch Hill office of Lila Delman/Compass.

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The Rhode Island Department of Transportation announced upcoming closures for construction on the Washington Bridge.

Officials said in-water construction will continue during the daytime hours.

Crews are set to install 32 drilled shafts to form the foundation of the new bridge. Vibration and noise monitoring are in place.

The right lane on Interstate 195 east over the Washington Bridge will be closed Thursday night, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for preventative maintenance.

Officials announced the right lane will be closed to the Massachusetts line for brush cutting and utility structure adjustments.

During the same timeframe, the left lane on the ramp from Interstate 195 west and Interstate 95 south will be closed for bridge work.

Drivers are asked to use caution when traveling through the work zones.