Is This The End Of Panini Mosaic Basketball? A Review Of The 2022-23 Release [Checklist Added]

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim September 11, 2023

The Panini Mosaic brand is beloved for its colorful background and excellent chase inserts.

Sure, the 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball version is coming out late. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t up to the high standards we are used to. It is also unclear how long this and other Panini products will be around. So, is this year’s Mosaic worth buying?

Our 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball review gives you the whole story.

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History of Panini Mosaic Basketball

Like many of our greatest innovations, the story of Panini Mosaic Basketball starts with a spectacular failure. Panini released a nostalgic product for the 2015-16 season, Replay.

The company described it as “the shortest-printed release of the 2015-16 NBA collecting season; it will afford collectors the rare opportunity to chase some of the greatest NBA cards in Panini America history.” 

But the release was so terrible that Panini felt the need to release an apology product that was free to anyone who had the misfortune of purchasing that ill-fated product.

The result was 2016-17 Panini Prizm Mosaic Basketball. If only they had released Mosaic, to begin with! The product was conceived as an offshoot of Prizm with similar designs and aesthetics but a mosaic-style background, making them unique.

It had far lower print runs than the product has today. The parallels were all low-numbered (Camo /25, Gold /10, and Black /1, Panini probably considered it a fun one-off rather than a permanent part of their roster, but the concept took off.

It has since become one of their top 5 (or at least top 10) products and is an essential part of their annual releases in all sports.

Over the next few years, the cards were sold directly off the Panini website and acquired a special place in the hobby.

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The Mosaic brand gets a makeover

The modern brand arrived in 2019-20. That was the first time Panini released the cards without the word Prizm in the title and sold them in stores.

The product was already quite popular, and the COVID boom and new format sent them over the top. 2019-20 Panini Mosaic Basketball was a massive hit.

It has since been a focal point of the schedule. Of course, Panini faces an uncertain future. Therefore, this might be one of the last-ever releases of Panini Mosaic Basketball.

2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball release date

A combination of the supply chain crisis and the highly congested release schedule of Panini meant that the company had fallen quite a bit behind. Therefore, these boxes dropped on September 1, 2023. About 2 months before the 2023-24 NBA season is set to start.

That is, of course, not an ideal state of affairs. But these boxes have been released late for quite a while. So, this should not come as a surprise to anyone.

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2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball release formats

The Mosaic Basketball release typically has a hobby release, followed about a month later by corresponding retail boxes. We don’t have info on the retail part yet.

However, in the past, it has included blasters and cello packs. Here is the info on the two hobby releases:

Hobby box

• 15 cards per pack
• 10 packs per box
• 12 per case
• Find 1 autograph, 20 prizms, and 20 inserts per box on average
• In Hobby exclusives include: Blue (#’d/49 or less), Gold (#’d/10), and Black (One-of-One) Parallels.
• Selling for $369.95
• A case goes for $4,399.95

Fast break box

• 12 cards per pack
• 12 packs per box
• 20 boxes per case
• Find 1 autograph, 11 prizms, 5 inserts, and 1 rookie variation per box on average.
• Fast Break exclusive Autographs of the top NBA stars in Autographs Fast Break.
• Other Fast Break exclusive Autographs include Fast Break Red (#’d/49) and Autographs Fast Break Blue (#’d/25) Parallels.
• One exclusive insert each for Breakaway, Stare Masters, Notoriety, Introductions, and Montage
• A box sells for $330
• A case sells for $6,600

FOTL box

• 15 cards per pack
• 10 packs per box
• 12 per case
• Find 1 autograph, 20 prizms, and 20 inserts per box on average
• In Hobby exclusives include: Blue (#’d/49 or less), Gold (#’d/10), and Black (One-of-One) Parallels
• Also includes FOTL exclusive: Pink Swirl – #/20; Green Swirl – #/5
• 1 Autograph; 2 FOTL Swirl Parallels, 18 other parallels, 20 other inserts on average
• Sells for $599

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2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball pros

The most basic pro of the Mosaic release is the design. Mosaic cards have a unique and mesmerizing look. That remains true this year. The new cards generally look pretty good. However, not everyone agrees.

One dissatisfied individual on Blowout Forums complained that “Mosaic just gets uglier every year.” Meanwhile, another user said, “I just can’t get over how awful this set is visually. Looks like those fake Pokémon cards you’d get out of toy machines as a kid.” But I honestly think it looks fine.

The Mosaic format has always been robust on inserts. Panini seems to put more effort into them on Mosaic than many other releases. They also tend to pop because of that distinct design.

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2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball cons

The biggest complaint about this release is the price. We will look in-depth at how these boxes resell over time. But they are not an elite product in that regard.

As we know, the value of basketball cards has generally decreased over the last year. Yet $360 for a hobby box is pretty high. It is also not a price people want to pay for a product that is coming out this late.

One of the reasons these cards are not worth all that much is over-printing. When this was a new set, it enjoyed a small print run. But now it seems to come in massive numbers and is worth less. But the price does not fully reflect that change.

Therefore, the FOTL sold out at just a bit above $400. It is nowhere near what you could have expected in previous years. Thus, overall, collectors seem to have soured on this release.

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Panini Mosaic 2022-23 Basketball checklist review

The release has a large base checklist of 300 players, including (of course) all the leading rookies of the 2022-23 crop. Of course, fans will be disappointed either way because everyone is waiting for those first Victor Wembanyama cards. And they will not be found here.

But enough with the moaning. The crop here is definitely underrated. It’s hard to say who will be the superstars from the Paolo Banchero, Walker Kessler, Bennedict Mathurin, Keegan Murray, and Jalen Williams bunch.

But we can agree it will probably include at least one of them. This crop of rookies has a tremendous amount of depth.

Parallels

The headlining parallels in this release are the hobby-exclusive Mosaic parallels. You can find them in the following versions: Red Mosaic

• Glitter Mosaic
• Blue Mosaic – /199
• Pink Mosaic – /149
• Purple Mosaic – /99
• White Mosaic – /25
• Gold Mosaic – /10
• Black Mosaic – 1/1

In addition, the choice boxes are chock full of parallels. Seven out of eight cards in each of these packs are parallels. Some of these are hobby-exclusive, including:

• Peacock Choice Mosaic
• Red and Yellow Fusion Choice Mosaic – /88
• Green Fusion Choice Mosaic – /21
• Black Gold Choice Mosaic – /8
• Nebula Choice Mosaic – 1/1

Fast Break Box exclusives include:

• Silver Fast Break
• Blue Fast Break – /85
• Purple Fast Break – /50
• Pink Fast Break – /20
• Gold Fast Break – /10
• Black Fast Break – 1/1

Inserts

Inserts have always been a specialty in Mosaic, and the 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball release is no exception.

There are more inserts than in most releases, and the quality is generally higher than average. In particular, Stained Glass is a great item. But the problem is that so many of these inserts are just an action shot, Mosaic style background, and the name of the insert printed.

There isn’t much of a concept behind most of this stuff. I am thinking of inserts like Swagger and others, which do not have a genuine reason for existing.

Overdrive

There is not much of a theme to these cards. They feature action shots with a very pronounced Mosaic-style background. The highest sales for these are generally LeBron cards, which do not pass the $200 mark.

Razzle Dazzle

It is very similar to the Overdrive inserts but with a more classic Stained Glass-type background. They have a distinctive look; therefore, this series’ best cards can be worth about $100 more.

Stained Glass

The Stained-Glass insert is, without a doubt, one of the best Panini inserts ever. It is deeply beloved for a good reason.

They predate Mosaic by many years and did not appear in the release until 2020. But today, they are entirely synonymous with freedom.

At the same time, they do not reach anywhere near the values of a Kaboom! Or Downtown, they will be remembered as classics of the Panini era. I believe substantial rookies of this type will go for many times their current value in the future.

1 Bennedict Mathurin – Indiana Pacers
2 LeBron James – Los Angeles Lakers
3 Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors
4 Jalen Williams – Oklahoma City Thunder
5 Ja Morant – Memphis Grizzlies

6 Luka Doncic – Dallas Mavericks
7 Jaden Ivey – Detroit Pistons
8 Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks
9 Kevin Durant – Phoenix Suns
10 Paolo Banchero – Orlando Magic

Montage

The Montage cards are among the most beautiful Panini inserts of all. They offer a variation on the classic Mosaic background by placing a stunning distance action shot on the right and a close-up step shot on the left side of the corner.

They are pretty dazzling and, as a result, tend to go for higher prices than most of the inserts in this release.

2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball autos

Although autographs are pretty standard in 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball, there isn’t a vast variety of offerings or designs.

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The four primary types found here include Autographs, Rookie Autographs, Collage Autographs, and Pictographs.

The real problem here is the rookie autographs. Here is the complete list:

1 Johnny Davis – Washington Wizards
2 Ousmane Dieng – Oklahoma City Thunder
3 Jabari Smith Jr. – Houston Rockets
4 Blake Wesley – San Antonio Spurs
5 Shaedon Sharpe – Portland Trail Blazers
6 Walker Kessler – Utah Jazz
7 AJ Griffin – Atlanta Hawks
8 Mark Williams – Charlotte Hornets
9 Dalen Terry – Chicago Bulls
10 Paolo Banchero – Orlando Magic
11 Ochai Agbaji – Utah Jazz
12 TyTy Washington Jr. – Houston Rockets
13 Simone Fontecchio – Utah Jazz
14 Nikola Jovic – Miami Heat
15 Chet Holmgren – Oklahoma City Thunder
16 Moussa Diabate – Los Angeles Clippers
17 Dyson Daniels – New Orleans Pelicans
18 Jalen Williams – Oklahoma City Thunder
19 Tari Eason – Houston Rockets
20 Keegan Murray – Sacramento Kings
21 Malaki Branham – San Antonio Spurs
22 Kennedy Chandler – Memphis Grizzlies
23 Bennedict Mathurin – Indiana Pacers
24 Patrick Baldwin Jr. – Golden State Warriors
25 Andrew Nembhard – Indiana Pacers
26 Max Christie – Los Angeles Lakers
27 Jeremy Sochan – San Antonio Spurs
28 Caleb Houston – Orlando Magic
29 Jaden Ivey – Detroit Pistons
30 Jake LaRavia – Memphis Grizzlies
31 Marjon Beauchamp – Milwaukee Bucks
32 Bryce McGowens – Charlotte Hornets
33 David Roddy – Memphis Grizzlies
34 Christian Braun – Denver Nuggets
35 Jabari Walker – Portland Trail Blazers
36 Jalen Duren – Detroit Pistons
37 Mac McClung – Philadelphia 76ers
38 Jaylin Williams – Oklahoma City Thunder
39 Wendell Moore Jr. – Minnesota Timberwolves
40 Jaden Hardy – Dallas Mavericks

Not to knock anyone on this list. A lot of quality here. But it’s easy to see that many top-notch rookies are not here.

Panini Mosaic Basketball 2022-23 value

This is where the rubber truly meets the road. Mosaic is a beautiful release. But Panini markets it as one with some value.

However, the brand’s reputation as an investment has been slipping. Let’s crunch the numbers and see if that sense is justified.

Wax

Panini Mosaic Basketball has been around in various forms since 2017. But the current incarnation (the mass-produced one) is very new. So, there is very little point of comparison here. But let’s take a look at all the boxes anyway.

The dive the value of these boxes has taken is intense. They had an excellent reputation for high quality and short print runs until 2020. But since then, prices have gone down.

Now they are worth about $100 less than the new ones. It’s always a terrible sign when trying to determine the long-term value of a brand.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t despair of the value of Mosaic. Not too many brands will be remembered fondly when the Panini days are over. But Mosaic will likely be among them.

The Stained Glass will remain one of the great inserts the company provided. And just as importantly, these cards have a unique and eye-catching design. Most brands don’t have that.

So, substantial rookies from this release stand a good chance of holding and increasing in value. Therefore, a case can be made for cheaply buying and holding these boxes.

Singles

The wax is not worth all that much, unfortunately. But how do singles from the Mosaic release hold up? We looked at some of the outstanding recent sales of Mosaic cards to try and evaluate their potential.

The numbers are pretty good. We can see some ungraded low-number cards fetching solid prices. And the highest selling cards are generally not Stained Glass.

That shows there is more depth to this release than people think. I think that solid rookie cards from Mosaic will be appreciated in time because they are distinctive and beautiful. But of course, you will want low-numbered versions to avoid the pitfalls of over-printing.

The final word on 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball

The new release continues with all the alarming trends we have seen from Mosaic in recent years. The designs are not the best; the inserts are repetitive, and the cards are overprinted. To make things worse, the boxes are overpriced in comparison to their market value.

The boxes cost around $120 less than they are worth when brand new. These are all ominous signs, making 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball seem unappealing.

However, there is more to the story. Overprinting or not, collectors love Mosaic designs and some of the inserts. Therefore, low-numbered cards are worth a lot for a relatively cheap release.

In addition, the Panini days are numbered, and there will not be many of these in the future. Nostalgia will likely kick in for Mosaic and a few other beloved brands, lifting their value. Therefore, Mosaic may be a buy at current low prices especially if any of these rookies pan out.

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2023 Panini Mosaic Basketball checklist

Check out the fully searchable 2022-23 Panini Mosaic Basketball checklist below