Topps left basketball after its 1981-82 set and did not come back until 1992. There was no licensed set at all for 1982-83, and from 1983 through 1986 the only one was made by the Star Company, which sold its cards not in wax packs but in sealed clear bags, one team to a bag, through hobby dealers, card shows and the mail. Production is usually estimated at about 5,000 sets per team.
No wax packs and no gum: one team's cards, sealed in a clear plastic bag.
Magic Johnson is #13 in the first Star set, a 275-card run in which the earliest numbers, the first 60, are the hardest to find, and #13 itself is a short print. He was four seasons into his career and already held two championship rings.
The card is printed in the Lakers' gold. Magic dribbles upcourt in the home uniform, number 32, beside a teammate, with STAR ’84 in the upper corner and the Lakers logo and his name across the bottom.
The reputation of these cards has its complications. Counterfeiting has been a worry for years, though the hobby's specialists say Star never reprinted its 1983 to 1986 sets and that the known fakes are mostly of 1985-86 cards. The safest course has long been to buy them graded.
Centering problems are common, and the earliest series suffered from ink trouble and miscuts at the printer.