Early this year, Panini launched its basketball card products for the 2021-22 season by releasing NBA Hoops. From there, the company worked its way to Donruss, Court Kings, and PhotoGenic, among others. But while these sets are great, nothing could really beat the impact Prizm brings to the table. And after a significant amount of time since the last edition, collectors will finally have their hands on the latest 2021-22 Panini Prizm NBA cards soon.
Largely considered as Panini's flagship product in the market, Prizm is the king for almost all collectors in the hobby. We take a look below at what makes this basketball card set worth all the hype.
A refreshingly modern look for Panini Prizm
Like its previous editions, Prizm is undergoing a change that's both refreshing and modern. While it's maintaining the brand's iconic machined-inspired look, it has a little more curves to its design than those that came before from years past.
The end result here is a Prizm card that still highlights the NBA player front and center well while surrounding him with several eye-catching design elements. The overall look clearly builds upon earlier editions of Prizm while succeeding in coming up with something unique.
Potential centering challenges
Although the new look is a welcome development, Panini's latest Prizm set for NBA card fans comes with a certain challenge – centering.
With a design like this one, it's fairly easy to see whether the card is centered well or not. But even before the product reaches everyone, hobbyists can look upon Panini's first-edition Prizm WWE cards and assess them since they also use the same look.
The bad news here is that a lot of WWE cards under the Prizm banner didn't center well. There's a good chance the same problem will fall on the latest Prizm basketball cards, which in turn, will prevent a lot of them from getting gem-mint grades when sent to reputable grading companies.
Tons and tons of parallels
As is the case with any Panini product, the latest Prizm set will come with a lot of parallels for NBA card collectors to chase. Apart from the usual Green, Red White Blue, and Silver, those in the hobby would have the chance to go for numbered offerings when the hobby boxes hit the market.
Some of the hobby-exclusive parallels that should be on everyone's radar are Mojo, Gold, Black Gold, and the 1/1 Black. And as seen from Panini's recent Prizm set for NFL, it's expected that the latter parallel would be the one to chase for, especially if it features Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, or Scottie Barnes. if the Prizm Black 1/1 Mac Jones rookie card is any indication, any of those young stars will demand a high price once they're pulled. In any case, collectors should expect a rainbow of colors and numbered hits once Panini Prizm Basketball comes out.
New inserts
Along with the base cards and their corresponding parallels, Panini is including a set of old and new inserts into their latest Prizm set. Of course, there are the usual offerings, such as Widescreen, Fearless, and Fireworks. While they look good, the magic really happens with the new inserts.
NBA card collectors will be treated to insert designs – Mindset and Prizmatic. The latter, in particular, adds a splash of color to the card's design, a move that isn't really done that much for Prizm. Along with these two, collectors can also search for Panini's commemorative 75 Years of the NBA and NBA 75th Logo Hobby inserts, which feature the league's best players throughout its historic run.
Overhyped
Without a doubt, Prizm is indeed the crown jewel of Panini's product line for NBA card collectors. Its sheer popularity among collectors and great resale value are just two of the reasons why it's such a hit in the hobby. But while it's a good product to have, the price can be too steep during the first few weeks from release.
At this point in time, Panini is selling the First Off The Line Hobby boxes via a Dutch auction on their website. Prices start at $2,800 and will fall until it reaches $1,100 or sells out. The truth of the matter here is that there's really little chance the starting price will go down. Instead, every FOTL hobby box of the 2021-22 Panini Prizm set will sell fast.
This will snowball to the regular hobby and retail products once they have been released to the market. Demand will be high, which would then lead the price to go up. As mentioned earlier, Prizm NFL sets were selling like crazy after a 13-year old teenager pulled a Black 1/1 Mac Jones rookie card and sold it for $100,000 a few days later. This can clearly happen in the days to come, which would drive prices of this product insane.
In any case, one thing is very clear here. Panini's latest Prizm set for NBA card fans will surely be in demand. While the offseason is in full swing, expect hobbyists to load up on their collection and investment plans by going after this set. In any case, it looks like Prizm is going to be the talk of the town soon.
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