Cardboard Review:2020-2021 Panini Court Kings

A couple of years ago, I started back into basketball collecting after over 25 years out of the game. There was something about the Knicks with RJ Barrett that caught my attention again.

Fast forward to now, I have watched more Knicks games this year then I have in the past 25 years. That's saying a lot knowing I only have watched 6 games. 

My interest in watching them has grown again, but not at the peak it was in the 90's.

One thing about basketball that hasn't changed for me is the opening of basketball cards as we take a look at Court Kings today.

Every box of 2020-2021 Panini Court Kings basketball comes with one pack of 10 cards.

You should find the following within,

2 Autographs or Relics
1 Rookie
2 Inserts
1 Parallel

And boxes currently are running $330 or so.

BASE:

The base cards design takes on a street art design with 200 cards in the base set. There are varying level degrees of rookies in the set.

These are the first level rookies base.

And here is a second level rookie base.

Overall there are four levels.

PARALLELS:

The following parallels can be found in the base set for Court Kings

Artist Proof, Ruby /149, Amethyst /99, Pink /99, Violet /49, Jade /25, Sapphire /25, and Masterpiece 1/1.

I found a Giannis  Ruby /149

INSERTS:

Maestros Russell Westbrook. There are 30 cards overall to collect in this set.

 

First Steps. I know many will think this is corny or stupid, but I like when companies think outside the basics. A picture of a player's shoe for First Steps, I will take it. There are 10 cards overall in the set to collect.

HITS:

My first hit was a Rookie Expression of Jordan Nwora.

 

Second hit was this Fresh Paint of RJ Hampton. I have only opened three boxes of basketball cards this year and two times I have hit this guy.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Well, this was a tough break to swallow looking at the price vs what I got in return.

If we are just looking at the product in general, I like the overall look and design. I also like the different base rookie card leveling as it reminds me of the late 90's back when set chasing some sets as it was more fun and challenging. It also brought more value to the product.

Your thoughts on this product are welcomed in comments below.

REVIEW:2017-2018 Panini Prestige Basketball (NICE HIT!)

Other than Hoops, Prestige is another one of those all-time favorite lower end products for basketball card collecting.

There is just something about the allure of Prestige for me. Is it the one rookie card per pack? Is it the base card photography? The shiny inserts? Well, hard to tell. All I know is that I have always been a fan of the line since the 90s where it started with football.

Let's take a dive in and see what a box of 2017-2018 Prestige Basketball provides.

 

Each box of 2017-2018 Prestige basketball has 24 packs per box with 6 cards per pack. You will find two autographs per box and boxes are running roughly $95.

The base set is 200 cards. The first 150 cards are veterans with some solid photography. The base set design is the same one used for football.

I am showing off a few of my favorite shots, see what I did there, in the base set. There are others that are great as well.

Rookie cards that fall 1 per pack, make up the last 50 cards in the set. With so many rookies, it's hard to find the top names. This was the best of my box. At least the rookie shots are mostly done in game play.

Except a couple of them. I would guess these were guys who haven't hit the court yet.

If you liked Cracked Ice parallels, you will be in total love of this product as Panini upped the anti putting the parallel all throughout. In Prestige however they call it Crystal parallel. These base card parallel  is exclusive to just hobby and can be found as, Crystal /199 (all below), Crystal Gold /10, and Crystal Blue 1/1.

There are a good amount of insert programs in Prestige that have stars of today, tomorrow and yesterday. In hobby, these to have Cracked Ice/Crystal parallels of Crystal, Crystal Gold /10, and Crystal Blue 1/1.

Stat Stars focuses on players with Star stats. Hence the name.

Hardcourt Heroes has some of the underdog names in the checklist that you may not always recognize but are heroes of the game for their respective teams.

Highlight Reel covers big nights in the NBA. This is only my second Ball card.

All Time Greats features those big time names in the past of the NBA

Rookie Class covers this years rookie class

And even has the parallels like this,

Stars Of The NBA takes a stars and features them.

Micro Etch rookies. This may be a set I chase because who doesn't love some micro etching technology? These are pretty cool. They also have parallels but I think I would just chase the red.

Now onto my two autographs from the box. Both were base ones but pretty decent.

First was Chris McCullough from the Wizards. He could use some work on his auto lol.

Not as much as Giannis does, but nice pull of Giannis none-the-less.

 

Other hits not found in my box are,
Prestigious Picks, Playmakers,Old School Signatures Set and Prestigious Signatures.

OVERALL: If you liked Prestige before in the past, you won't be disappointed with this years either. Panini kept everything the way it has always been besides the new tweaking of cracked ice. To be honest, I think it was a tad overdone on that part. I think another parallel or two would have offset so much of it. That's my only complaint of the product.

I do think the product could be a bit of a gamble for the price point and only two autographs, but, there are some big names to be found and with the 17-18 rookie class being as hot as it is, it's probably in the long run going to be more of an investment especially if you pull the key rookies.

You can find the checklist for 2017-2018 Panini Prestige basketball, HERE.

Most of the hits, if not all, from this break will be given away for #SCC6YR celebration. Please, please tell Panini America and Tracy Hackler thanks for the shot at these cards. Without their support with these reviews giveaways wouldn't be possible. Check them out at Panini America website and all social media sites.

SI For Kids Cards June 2017

Here is my eighth installment of this series.

I have been collecting SI For Kids cards for year and thought I would share them with you and help you decide if you should pick up the latest issue of SI For Kids for yourself.

This months issue was one I would def want with Odell Beckham Jr as the lead card of the group. But, there are other solid names in here as well like Nolan Arenado and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

 

 

So I think this isn't a bad issue to pick up. I keep waiting for them to do an Aaron Judge card, maybe for July.

 

Thoughts on this months cards are welcomed below.