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:2019-2020 Contenders Basketball

Well, well, well. I had no idea when I busted this box to review of Contenders how hot the product was. No idea. It's so hot that the original pricing for hobby boxes I believe was under $200 but now appears they are selling up towards anywhere twice plus t right now.

This will be the first year in a long time I haven't opened any Contenders football with no such chance in sight, but at least I got a taste of my favorite Panini product and their popular autographed tickets with basketball.

Guess it's time for you to sit back and see why this product is so hot.

In every box of Contenders basketball 2019-2020,  you will find 12 packs per box with 10 cards per pack. Boxes will have 2 autographs, much lower than the six there used to be, and boxes can run you up to $400+.

BASE:

Typical layout design for the base this year with Contenders sticking with the ticket theme like it has for many years.

(Card Back) There are 100 base cards in the set and the set consists of veterans.

PARALLELS

Find the following parallels,

TICKET PARALLELS: Playoff /199, Semifinal /149, The Finals /65, Conference Finals /125, Cracked Ice /25, Championship 1/1, Printing Plates 1/1.

GAME TICKET PARALLELS: Green, Red, Blue /99, Purple /49.

 Playoff Ticket /199

Conference Finals /125. I like the rainbow shine on these

INSERTS:

 Lottery Ticket has 14 cards to collect. They have a Hyper parallel look to them.

Team Quads looks like the other inserts in the product. 30 to collect of your teams four best players. NOt sure how they found four on my Knicks.

 Rookie Of The Year Contenders. Couldn't find info on how many in this set.

Superstar Die Cuts has 10 cards to collect and yes, really cool die cut.

HITS:

Dylan Windler....who? I didn't know til I Googled him. Was the 26th overall pick in the draft and is out for the season with a leg injury.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker The Finals autograph ticket /49. He was the 17th pick in the NBA draft and averages 6 points a game.

Other hits not in my box but could be in yours include...

• Rookie Ticket Swatches Autographs
• Veteran Season Ticket Autographs
• Veteran Season Ticket Stub Autographs
• Contenders Autographs
• Legendary Contenders Autographs
• MVP Contenders Autographs
• Sophomore Contenders Autographs
• Kobe Bryant Autographs
• 2018 Contenders Extras
• Rookie Ticket Swatches
• Rookie Ticket Dual Swatches 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Well, I am and always have been a fan of this strong product but cutting back to two autographs and paying close to $400 for a box is scary. My box didn't even reach $100 in value. it's all apart of the hobby gamble though as there is plenty of content that could lead to a big payoff now or one later on.

It's not particularly one this blogger will take but it's always fun to rip a box of Contenders.

Please thank the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing me with this box to review for some upcoming giveaways. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.   

REVIEW:2017-2018 Panini Court Kings (HOT BOX WITH 2 BONUS HITS AND RARE INSERT!)

It's that time again, time for another review. This time we take it to the hard court with this years hot, hot rookie class.

We take a look at Court Kings which is one of those art based products. I busted last years product and was pretty impressed, how will this years product go, well, read on!

In every box of 2017-2018 Panini Court Kings basketball there are 10 total cards. You will find at least one insert, one box topper, one autograph and one memorabilia card per box. Boxes currently run about $70.

Like I said in my blog title, my box was a bit of a surprise with double the hits. I first open it up to find a box topper. I expected my usual base version but boom, started off the box with a surprise autograph of Ben Wallace. I had hoped for a much bigger name since many are included like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Kobe Bryant and Karl-Anthony Towns.

 

On cards autographs sparkle on these.

 

The base set is very bold and beautiful. Lots of vibrant colors. Look for four rookie card variations, each with unique designs and varying print runs. The base set itself is 100 veteran cards. But, then you take in another 132 rookies with the four levels and you have yourself a deep checklist with lots to chase.

Key rookies to find are, Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz, De'Aaron Fox, Jayson Tatum, Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Kuzma, Bam Adebayo, Josh Jackson, Justin Jackson, Donovan Mitchell, Luke Kennard, Dennis Smith, Jr., and John Collins.

 

Base cards have parallels of Sapphire /25 and Masterpiece 1/1.

 

Now time for the inserts.

 

In the past, Court Kings has celebrated Le Cinque Piu Belle.This year, find 10 of the best players in the world in the ultra-rare Dieci Migliore. My find was Russ Westbrook. Not too shabby!! I also like the extra foil touch on the card.

 

Up next, a rookie Portraits card.

 

I was already excited up to this point. Let's see how the rest goes.

 

Art Nouveau relic card.

 

Sketches and Swatches includes take a unique black and white look with some added color. I like it.

 

And my last pull from the box, by far the biggest Panini Rewards I have seen.

 

 

Other hits not included in my box are, 

Fresh Paint Autographs,Fresh Paint Dual Autographs,Art Nouveau Jumbo Nameplate,Artistic, Endeavors Memorabilia, Artistic Endeavors Prime, Aurora (case hit insert), Blank Slate , Emerging Artists, Heir Apparent Autographs,Performance Art Jerseys, Points in the Paint and Renaissance Men.

 

OVERALL:It's really hard for me to judge this product getting a HOT BOX. Looking at my results, I was pretty happy with the product. A rare insert, 4 hits, can't do any better than that for the price. Not sure how a basic break went.

 

Looking at the product, I like the design of the hits and the base set. Not much of a fan of the inserts as they look more like the base than an insert. The rare one I pulled doesn't however due to the touch of rainbow foil. I think they needed to do more there to offset the base vs the inserts.

I guess my final opinion is, if you are a fan of art related products, the price here isn't bad and there are hot boxes to find as well with plenty of big time hits. I say give it a try!

Please take a moment out to thank Panini America for their generosity in providing this box for me to review and give some of the hits away in my Mystery Panini Contest. Follow them on all social media and visit their site, HERE, as well. If you haven't entered the contest yet, you can find it HERE.

REVIEW:2016-2017 Panini Threads Basketball

Panini Threads returns to the Hobby hard court after a hiatus as an retail only product and it comes offering a variety of different inserts and parallels in the product. It's pretty deep.

So let's take a break of the box and see how it goes.

Every box of 2016-2017 Threads basketball has 20 packs of 6 cards each. There will be one autograph and one memorabilia card per box. and Two Leather Rookies! Also find 18 Inserts/Parallels Per Box. Boxes have been running about $70 per.

The base set is 200 cards deep with players of today and top rookies, but the master set is 287 cards deep. More on that in a second.

They stick with the same kinda feel on the base card design focusing more on the players and using rookie shots from the premier. It's simple, but a clean design.

 

 

I spoke of the master set, well, that will take one dedicated set collector to fill. Making out cards 201-230 are these Leather Rookies you only find 2 per box.

 

 

Cards 231-254 are printed on wood and are randomly inserted in ONLY retail packs. Cards 255-287 are printed using the micro etch technology.

 

Like in my description, the box is loaded with inserts and parallels. 

 

These both are red base card parallels /199. It was a nice find on the Westbrook.

 

The inserts are pretty typical for threads with some nicely named basketball themed ones. They all appear to have parallels as well. Those include, Dazzle, Holo, Red, Dazzle Orange /25, Dazzle Green /15, Dazzle Purple /15, and Platinum 1/1. I only found reds in my box that are not numbered.

Hardwood Pioneers has the players of yesterday, the pioneers of the game you can say. While Floor Generals has players that like to drive the lane.

 

Front Row seats capture those shots under the hoop and gives you a front row seat as well.

 

Board Directors includes players of past and present who are the big time rebounders in the game.

 

High Ocatane are those extra players that help provide the spark.

 

Team Threads was my favorite insert of the group taking a players jersey design die cut. This would be a fun but challenging set to put together with 100 cards to chase.

 

2016-2017 The Rooks is all rookies and all micro etched.

 

And finally, Century Stars is micro etched and die cuts out the bottom of the card into a star shape. This is also a Case Hit so it's a nice find. I like the fact that Panini has been doing this with their products. Making inserts worthy to find again.

 

Now onto the hits! There were two to find including one auto and one mem.

However, when it came to the hits in my box..they weren't the best.

My autograph of the box was a 400 pt Panini Rewards card. I would have actually preferred a redemption. Panini Rewards costs shipping even though you get to pick out your card or cards. Redemptions are free and after 4 months if the player doesn't sign, you can replace it with a team you want anyways. So that sounds better to me and I am a very patient person when it comes to spending money.

Of course a product named Threads, has to have some threads. This was my pull. Not too shabby on the player. Design is nice.

 

 

Other hits not found in my box include,

Autographs, Century Collection Materials, Debut Threads Jersey, Materials, NBA Legends Ink, Signage, Rookie Signage, Team Threads Die-Cut Autographs and Team Threads Rookie Die-Cut Autograph. Lots of things to find with a pretty solid autograph checklist.

 

OVERALL, well, my box fell flat with the hits. I did well however with the base rookies I pulled in the box pulling most of the key ones. The Westbrook parallel was nice and I pulled good players on the inserts. The case hit was also a nice find, just too bad the player hadn't been one of the better ones like Lebron or Curry. However, it may have been the saving grace of the box.

I am glad that the product returned back to hobby as Target retail exclusives I believe hurt the hobby more than help it. Especially for someone like me who doesn't have a Target nearby and for the hobby shops that need promoting.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Panini America for providing this box for me to review and to be able to do a future GIVEAWAY with some of the cards. Follow Panini America on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well.

Basketball Card Mailday

Sorry if this is hard to see. It's a Russel Westbrook 2011 Goodwin Champions memorabilia card. Loved the designs on these!

We will share our mail days time to time when there is one. You can do the same on our Facebook page!