2012 13 Panini Prestige Basketball Box Break Recap And Review

It is clear that Panini has stepped up its game with this year’s basketball releases.  Their standard trading card, Prestige, has been revamped too, taking it from standard fare to a set of cards, from a design level, that approach it’s name more closely.  It now becomes a premiere trading card offering while remaining at a reasonable price point.

2012 13 Panini Prestige Basketball falls under our classification of trading cards. Hobby boxes include 24 packs with 8 cards per pack with the promise of 3 Autographs and 1 Memorabilia card per box

Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled.

Base Set

 Kevin Durant, front and back

 Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin

 Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Deron Williams

 Kevin Love, John Wall, Tim Duncan

LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwayne Wade 

 Chris Paul, James Harden

 Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose

Rookies

 Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Ross

 Moe Harkless, Tyler Zeller, Evan Fournier

Iman Shumpert, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmer Fredette 

Tobias Harris, Jeremy Tyler, Marcus Morris 

Bonus Shots Numbered Parallels

Pau Gasol #/249, Terrel Harris #/249

Inserts 

Franchise Favorites

 Tony Parker, Paul Pierce, Deron Williams

 Connections

 Durant & Aldridge, Collison & Holiday, Nowitzki & Nash

 Stars of the NBA

 Elton Brand, Kevin Martin, Greg Monroe

 Hardcourt Heroes

LeBron James, Chris Paul, Steve Nash 

This year in all of the Panini Basketball releases there will be a 5 card bonus pack top loaded in each box.  All cards will be part of the Kobe Bryant Anthology and cover his entire career with the Lakers. Here are the cards from our pack.

Card 10, front and back, Card 68

Card 102, Card 151, Card 166

The Hits

 Glen Davis True Colors Memorabilia 

 Brandon Knight Prestigious Picks Auto, Bismack Biyombo Prestigious Picks Auto

Overall Look

Prestige comes in with a great update, taking it from it prior symmetrical, underplayed color scheme to vibrant colors and variety of looks, all of which work.  In dealing with a double rookie class, Panini has separated all of the rookies with a very distinctive look.  Placing the most recent rookies in within the checklist starting at card number 200 is a nice touch.  Otherwise 2011 NBA draft rookies can be recognized by the inclusion of stats.  Hit cards are standard fare but look in line with the feel of Prestige.

Quality and Variety of Players.

A double rookie class naturally lends the set towards a more rookie centric release with the split of rookies and commons at 100 and 150 respectively within the base cards.  But this still feels like a good mix with all the big name players you would want present in a set fully represented.

Do the hits hold up?

As can happen, our box was shorted on hit, but Panini has always shown superior customer service in cases like this.  That still does not take away from the potential to land some thing very nice and at the usual 3 autos/1 mem per box, there is good value there too.

Will you want to collect them all?

This is definitely a set that will compel you to collect them all.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2012 13 Panini Prestige Basketball is a great set of  trading cards that has a lot to offer.



Review box provided by Panini