While the hype for Prizm is getting stronger every day, Panini isn't waiting idly by before they launch their flagship NBA card set for this year. In fact, they've already released tons of products in the past few months, such as NBA Hoops and Donruss. But before the company moves on to its big guns, basketball card collectors will have to see what Panini's latest edition of Contenders has to offer.
We take a look below at Panini's new offering for NBA card collectors, and what can be expected from this product.
A cleaner base NBA card design
Ever since it was first released for the 2012-13 season, Panini's Contenders and its base card design have been based on a simple premise, one that takes its inspiration from a game ticket. This latest edition is no different, albeit it comes with a cleaner design than last year's set.
For this year's Contenders, the player's full-body profile is located on the left while a set of numbers depicting an arena's seating system is on the right. The team's primary colors take every design element together and help it look good when collected with other base cards.
And since this is Panini we're talking about, NBA card collectors can expect a wide array of parallels to go along with the base offerings. Some of the notable options to be found in both hobby and retail formats are the Anniversary Edition, Playoff (/249), Conference Finals (/75), The Finals (/49), Opening Night FOTL (/25), and the Championship One of One cards from this set.
Head-turning inserts
Although other products from Panini offer inserts that have dedicated fanbases, such as Optic's My House or Donruss' Net Marvels, this set has a couple of great pulls any collector would love to have. Some of these include, Lottery Tickets, Rookie of the Year Contenders, Legendary Contenders, MVP Contenders, and Suite Shots.
Among the great NBA card inserts in this Panini product is its Superstar Die-Cut. It features 10 of the best stars in the league right now, such as Stephen Curry, LaMelo Ball, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Jayson Tatum. Apart from the base variant, it also has short-printed parallels, like Cracked Ice (/25), and a One of One Championship Edition.
Another insert to look out for when buying Panini Contenders is the Permit To Dominate and License To Dominate cards. The former features this season's hottest rookies, like Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, Josh Giddey, and Franz Wagner. Meanwhile, the latter has established NBA stars, such as Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Ja Morant, and Nikola Jokic, among others. Unlike the other inserts, Panini didn't include any parallels since these two inserts are considered case hits. This means their print run is very low, which makes them very hard to pull.
Panini's on-card rookie autographs
While the parallels and inserts are cool to have, the biggest draw of Panini Contenders has always been its on-card rookie autos. This year's edition is no different as these signed NBA cards are still a must-have for collectors out there.
Based on this year's base card design, these autos feature the rookie's profile up top and their signature down below. The end result is a good-looking card that will surely turn heads in the market, especially if it's encased within a gem-mint slab. And along with these autos and their parallels, NBA card collectors can also chase signed memorabilia from the hottest sophomores and veterans in the league right now.
Panini has released hobby boxes for Contenders recently, with each one containing an average of two autographs, two base parallels, and eight inserts. The First Off The Line box, meanwhile, has an average of one shimmer auto and an extra signed card, one FOTL-exclusive Opening Ticket parallel, and eight parallels.
Even with the influx of new NBA card sets from Panini, Contenders offer something distinct. And while they're cheaper than most chrome-based sets, it can't be denied that there's still value to be found in this product.
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