Debate time: Is this boxed set home to a key Rookie Card?

The question above says it all and I need to know what others think on this Wednesday afternoon.

Why? Well, one player inside this set has a unique career and has had a dominating season so far, too. And, his enigmatic journey is one that has just as odd of a cardboard résumé ... one that sparks said question.

This is the 2018-19 Panini Instant NBA Finals box set -- a relatively plentiful release with 49,286 sets ordered in the wake of the Toronto Raptors' first championship. A number of those sets are found in this colorful team-adorned box -- it's a cheap set, too, by the way, when you can find it -- while other copies that were ordered directly on the Instant site arrived without the packaging but every card in a sealed top-loader as you can see here.

I grabbed the set back in the day and recently landed one still in the box -- I have no intent to open it because it's the super-rare instance where I wanted one sealed since even the box shows the player I collect.

So what's the deal? Keep reading.

Chris Boucher's journey to the NBA is a long and unlikely one -- one that I can't really sum up all that well, either, but it includes a couple of small-town, small-school stops with a national player of the year award in that mix, a Sports Illustrated cover, a season-ending injury during his next team's Final Four run, a G-League deal with an NBA title in the mix, a trade, a two-way G-League run, a G-League MVP award, a G-League Defensive Player of the Year award and a lot more before playing time on a second NBA title-winning team that ended up with him appearing on the card above and its two parallels. (And a cameo on the team card if you count those.)

Meanwhile, a lot of players have done less and had a lot more ... some never playing in the NBA at all. The cool part, of you ask me, though, is that at least he's posing with the trophy. A lot of guys on cards with plenty of accolades and even Hall of Fame careers never, ever got to touch one of those.

Now, I get it ... Boucher not having cardboard didn't not make sense back then. He played just one game for the NBA champion Warriors in the 2017-18 season. He played just 28 for the champion Raptors. Last year? Well, he played 62 with 6.6 points a game ... improved but still nothing to write home about in the big picture. But, it was enough to get him a two-year, $13.5-million deal heading into this season and though 10 games, he's averaging 14.3 points and 6.2 rebounds a game for the struggling Raptors. He's had four 20-point games so far (high of 24) and even had a pair of double-doubles. It's not Hall of Famer stuff but it's still all part of something interesting here.

So, again, why all this? Well, it's about that question up top ... the cardboard.

You can count Boucher's card appearances quickly -- he's got about 30 and that's it -- but that boxed set card was the only thing he had until late into last year. You know, back when everybody was chasing Rookie Cards of That Zion Guy and Ja Rules. I get it -- they're big deals ... I've chased them, too, but the cards I kept looking for? Something, anything, of Boucher ... but I got nothing since the 2018-19 championship card.

Until one day ... when an autographed card showed up on eBay.

The crazy part since then? He's only appeared on autographed cards -- despite having a pretty cringe-worthy C-squiggle signature that, well, I wouldn't pay much for. (In fact, I have waited to grab ... not thinking this kind of season would happen.) His ink arrived a few times in 2019-20 Panini Chronicles, a few more dropped in 2019-20 Panini Opulence, then some more high-end ink in 2019-20 Panini Immaculate Collection before a trio of cards in 2019-20 NBA Hoops Premium Stock. Most of them are pushing $100 -- I'll wait, despite my school ties, because the ink is rough. Meanwhile, while all of these cards were distributed in packs none of them are base cards ... so, by definition, they aren't even potentially late RCs, either.

So, with this kind of strong start, will we finally see Boucher on a base card -- a Rookie Card per se even after a couple-dozen autographed card appearances? If he does, it probably will be one of those weird RCs without an RC logo ... an enigma that would probably still keep it a bit anonymous to many. (I'm good with that if it happens.)

Or, is the boxed set card his Rookie Card? (He's not the only debut in the set, either.) I know it's not the most-important question -- the autographs are getting everybody's attention -- but I need to know what you think. Call me curious.

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