Folks, we have ourselves a surprisingly great product with the Feb 21st release of 2017-18 Panini Contenders Basketball. It’s BY FAR my favorite basketball product of the year (to this point) and it carries with it a variety of parallels. All of the chatter will be about the Premium Auto’s (featuring Optic/Chrome technology)…and rightfully so…they are absolutely beautiful. But this product is LOADED with great content that shouldn’t be so easily missed. Let’s break it down.
The Autograph Parallel Breakdown
Before we rank the Top 5 chase sets, let me try to quickly breakdown what’s going on with Contenders this year. There is an abundance of Rookie & Veteran Auto’s.
ROOKIES
Rookie Ticket Vertical (45 Rookies) – ON-CARD
- Premium (Optic Chrome) – Not #’d
- Premium Gold (Optic Chrome) – /10
- Playoff /65
- Finals /49
- Cracked Ice /25
- Championship 1/1
- Printing Plates 1/1 (x4)
Rookie Ticket Horizontal Variation (45 Rookies) – ON-CARD
- Premium (Optic Chrome) – Not #’d
- Premium Gold (Optic Chrome) – /10
- Playoff /35
- Finals /25
- Cracked Ice /20
- Championship 1/1
- Printing Plates 1/1 (x4)
Up and Coming Auto (30 Rookies) — Sticker Autos 🙁
- Bronze /25
- Gold /10
- Platinum 1/1
VETERANS
Historic Rookie Season Ticket (8 players) – ON-CARD
- Premium (Optic Chrome) – Not #’d
- Premium Gold (Optic Chrome) – /10
- Playoff /49 or /25
- Finals /25 or /20
- Cracked Ice /10
- Championship 1/1
- Printing Plates 1/1 (x4)
Legendary Contenders (20 players) – Sticker Auto’s 🙁
- Bronze /25
- Gold /10
- Platinum 1/1
MVP Contenders (9 players) – Sticker Auto’s 🙁
- Bronze /25
- Gold /10
- Platinum 1/1
NBA INK Autographs (39 Players) – Sticker Auto’s 🙁
- Bronze /25
- Gold /10
- Platinum 1/1
Top 5 Auto Parallels in Product
These are the 5 that I believe are hands-down the best in the product and will likely fetch the highest prices in the product.
#1 – Rookie Ticket Premium Gold /10 – Vertical
These are as close to perfect as you can come with an on-card rookie auto. The gold chrome is a superb touch, action photos on left, and details on right. Lots of space for good autos on bottom. Panini nailed these.
Expected multiplier to base vertical = 4-5X
Average Sales Price = $400
Top 10 Gold /10 eBay Auctions ending —> RIGHT HERE <—-
#2 – Rookie Ticket Cracked Ice /25 – Vertical
If you know anything about Contenders Football, these are the cards to get. They carry the largest demand for any of the “chrome” autos….and they always have the eye appeal. I don’t see it being much different with the NBA. These look great in-hand and will inherit some nice name recognition.
Expected multiplier to base vertical = 3.5X
Average Sales Price = Will be added on Sunday 2/25
Top 5 Cracked Ice /25 eBay Auctions ending —> RIGHT HERE <—-
#3 – Rookie Ticket Premium Base – Vertical
#ChromeIsKing. This holds true with these premium auto’s. The curious part to the base premium auto’s is no one knows the print-run. Did Panini SP – SSP some of the rookies on the premium parallels?
Expected multiplier to base vertical = 2X
Average Sales Price = Will be added on Sunday 2/25
Top 5 Rookie Ticket Premium eBay Auctions ending —> RIGHT HERE <—-
#4 – Rookie Ticket Premium Gold /10 – Horizontal
Same story as the vertical gold…just a little bit less valuable with horizontal. Will be hard to complain when you have one in your hands… because the horizontal look just as sweet.
Expected multiplier to base vertical = 3x
Average Sales Price =Will be added on Sunday 2/25
Top 5 Rookie Ticket Premium Gold Horizontal eBay Auctions ending —> RIGHT HERE <—-
#5 – Historic Rookie Season Premium Gold /10 – Vertical
You’ve got 8 elite player with on-card GOLD optic autos (Durant, Kobe, Giannis, Carmelo, Davis, Irving, Wade, Paul). Yeah, go ahead and sign me up.
Expected multiplier to base vertical = 4x
Average Sales Price = Will be added on Sunday 2/25
Top 5 Historic Rookie Ticket Premium Gold eBay Auctions ending —> RIGHT HERE <—-
There you have it, my quick summary of Top 5 cards to chase in this incredible new Panini release. Jump into those breaks….buy a box (if you can find one). Enjoy an outstanding product!
Here are the Contenders BREAKS eBay Auctions – ending soon.
