Some products do not need an introduction. Panini NBA Prizm Basketball is first among them for basketball collectors. Still, it’s part of my job to introduce stuff, so I will do it anyway.
Prizm Basketball is probably the most popular basketball product ever released and the most popular of anything Panini has made. It has become the standard against which all other releases are measured.
If that wasn’t enough to make the release of 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball an event, there are reasons that this year’s edition is particularly notable.
First, it will include the most anticipated rookie card of Victor Wembanyama, the most highly touted NBA rookie since LeBron James. Second, it will be one of the last licensed releases of this beloved product.
Therefore, we greet it with excitement and a certain amount of sorrow. But does this iteration of our favorite basketball product compare favorably with previous editions? Read the 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball Review to find out.
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CardLines was pleased to be one of the first to break 2023-24 Panini Prizm Basketball during a break in mid-January. You can check that break below for a sneak peek of the product or check future breaks here.
Panini bought the exclusive rights to produce licensed NBA cards in 2009. Topps had managed to master the market with Topps Chrome Basketball, which first hit the shelves in 1996.
Panini struggled to replace Topps and their popular products in the first two years they produced basketball cards. The first release of Panini NBA Prizm Basketball in 2012 changed all that.
The idea behind the release was to create a Panini equivalent of Topps Chrome, which was unique enough to feel fresh to basketball collectors. There is no doubt that they succeeded at this task and then some.
The Prizm Silver and more rare versions of rookie cards became highly sought after. The base cards also fetched a substantial value in their early years, although that has become less true recently.
It also really helped that 2012-13 was a double rookie year. In 2011, the NBA experienced a lockout that went on for a long 161-day period.
For many years, the Prizm boxes were also reasonably priced. That was part of what facilitated that meteoric rise. You could get some of the best and most valuable cards at a price within reach of average collectors. Of course, that has changed in recent years.
A box of Prizm now costs what a high-end box was going for just a few years ago. The combination of these factors made Panini NBA Prizm Basketball the go-to rookie card for every player in the NBA to debut from 2012 to 2024.
Though that run will expire in 2026, Prizm still has a couple of releases from the position of top dog left. This one is key because of Wemby.
We are always complaining about the Panini release dates here. And with good reason, they have been bad for a while. But Prizm is the most important one, so a lot is forgiven if they get this one right. The 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball release date is February 7, 2024.
All things considered, it could be a lot worse. Many Panini products have dropped after the season ends or well into the next season. With this product arriving more than two months before the playoffs, we will not complain.
Keep in mind that the 2022-23 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball was released on April 12, 2023. That was a desperate attempt to fit it into the regular season since the 2023 NBA Playoffs tipped off three days later. That was already an improvement on the 2021-22 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball boxes, which saw light on July 8, 2022.
That was almost a month after the Warriors were crowned the unlikely champs. Of course, 2019-20 came out in December. Of 2019! But those were simpler times. We admire Panini for hustling to improve the date every year. No really.
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NBA Prizm Basketball is perhaps the closest thing Panini has to a flagship release. It is massive and traditionally comes in hobby box, FOTL, and retail formats. I mean, let’s get real here.
No matter what Panini puts out of this release, it will sell. What formats will we see this year? Not all the info is out yet, but here is what we believe Panini will release for 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball.
The biggest advantage of the Panini NBA Prizm Basketball release is the value of the singles. It can sometimes be hard to predict which rookie card will be the one the hobby will coalesce over. But the Prizm will always be top or very close to it in any list.
There is also a vast variety of worthwhile cards for every rookie worthy of collecting. That leads to a good deal of depth in this release.
While most releases have a few killer cards, what sets Prizm apart is the depth of value it has in store. There are more cards worth ripping for than just about any other release.
The 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball design is fabulous. I have never been a massive fan of the standard Prizm design, but the market has spoken on that one, and I am clearly in the minority. But even I can appreciate the nice take on the design performed here.
The borders are far busier than usual and filled in a particularly creative manner here. It’s nice to see that Panini can still do something interesting with this old chestnut while staying true to what makes it a classic.
Collectors will be particularly happy when they compare the new designs with ones from recent years. Panini has undoubtedly upped its game for this release after it seemed like it was coasting in this regard for quite a while.
It isn’t just the base cards that look good this time. Many of the inserts, like Kaleidoscope, look fabulous. But not the Prizmania cards. At least not the Luka one in the preview. What on earth is that monstrosity?
But the main advantage for 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm is clear. The rookie class. While the NBA has produced some fantastic talent in recent years, none has become hobby gold.
A player like Ja Morant is an excellent example of what I am talking about. He has talent up the wazoo but is not consistent enough (and mentally stable enough) to be a massive hobby investment.
Wemby is the first player with huge hype in years. The rest of the class isn’t bad either. Therefore, there is a very good chance these boxes will resell for much higher prices than most years.
I feel like I am saying this about every single Panini release these days. But the main drawback is the price. Yeah, it has been a very long time since Prizm was an inexpensive brand. But holy guacamole, this should not be a $1,000-per-box product. We have to wonder if it will sell at the slated price.
As one Blowout Forums member put it, “I mean, at some price, people have to stop buying, right?” But with Wemby in this release, I guess Panini figures this product is well worth milking. They are probably right, but that doesn’t mean we must like it.
One of the most bizarre things about the Prizm release is how bad the inserts are. Panini excels at making top-notch inserts. They have aced this category repeatedly from Stained Glass to Net Marvels to Kaboom!. Indeed, for all its money and swagger, Fanatics and Topps are far behind in this regard.
But the Prizm inserts have always been particularly weak. Sure, not everything is terrible. Some of the best items they offer in this popular release include Fearless, Fireworks, and Prizmatic.
It is unclear if that is an intentional policy, especially when you compare them to somewhat less popular releases like Donruss. But some people believe, and this does make sense, that Panini has focused its best inserts elsewhere to keep some of its struggling products alive.
They know that because of brand recognition and the strength of the Prizm parallels, people will buy the product anyway.
Meanwhile, Panini has also turned the product’s main advantage into a disadvantage. The wealth of Prizm parallels has meant that many collectors have made it their goal to complete the “rainbow” and collect all the parallels for a particular card.
But as the number of parallels has gone from a manageable 40 or so in the past to well over 100 today, that is becoming more difficult to achieve. Sometimes, less is more. This also raises the concern that Panini is increasing the number of parallels to make people buy more products in pursuit of the rainbow.
The main strength of Prizm is, as always, the parallels that it offers. Indeed, the entire base set is an excuse for the large selection of Prizms available for each card.
* Blue (#/150)
* Red (#/100)
* Purple (#/75)
* Pink (#/50)
* Bronze (#/20)
* Neon Green (#/5)
The big attraction here is, of course, Wemby. Easily the most hyped NBA rookie in over a decade. I am sure you have your own opinion on whether the French big man is overhyped or the real thing.
However, by now Victor Wembanyama has played enough games for us to get a general impression of him. The truth is, he looks phenomenal. The people are saying a rookie with over 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks (!!!) per game is disappointing.
They are just peddling unrealistic expectations. The only thing that will stop Wemby from being a perennial All-Star is injury.
But there is certainly more depth to this rookie class than Wemby. Interestingly, Panini has not been promoting Prizm and its other major releases for 2023-24 by featuring the super-hyped Spurs star. Instead, they have brought the charismatic twins Amen and Ausar Thompson.
Both have a lot of talent, especially Ausar, who will likely be a well-above-average player. However, I am not convinced either will be a bankable superstar.
Brandon Miller is the other guy to watch out for in this class. He is an explosive and natural scorer. Just the kind of guy the hobby likes. Indeed, his cards are enjoying pretty good value already. Just take a look at some of his Bowman U cards to get an idea.
While Miller is probably the best bet here, aside from Wemby, there are other guys to consider. In particular, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Dereck Lively II are doing incredibly well and making their teams happy. Meanwhile, Scoot Henderson is very highly considered but hasn’t exactly been setting the league on fire.
I already spent an earlier part of this review whining about the quality of Prizm inserts. Traditionally speaking, it hasn’t been the most impressive release in that regard. But what about 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm? Does it up its game on inserts? Or is it once again coasting on its parallels and strong reputation? We took a look at the offerings this year.
Fireworks is a typically unimaginative Prizm insert. You have fireworks in the background. The definition of a throwaway idea. Nonetheless, there have been some great designs for this over the years.
Most commonly, when the background doesn’t look much like fireworks, because it can be very attractive, and is a Prizm card, after all, the very low population cards can have good value.
As the title suggests, this one focuses on draft picks. It is a variation on the classic, showing a player right after they have been selected in the draft kind of thing. Still, it works nicely when there is a busier background. The plainer designs tend to be quite boring. Once again, the numbered cards can be great investments.
Panini has used Fractal inserts before, but not in the Prizm release. We have most commonly seen this insert in Panini Revolution in the past.
The concept is based on the geometric concept, which (according to Wikipedia) is “a detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension.” And yes, these inserts have (at least in the past) met that criteria. I checked.
They haven’t had much value in other releases. However, they are sure to go for better prices in Prizm versions.
Prizm welcomes this as a new insert for its collection. The use of a kaleidoscope-inspired design isn’t precisely further to Prizm. They have used it for parallels before. These inserts were also a big hit in the 2022-23 English Premier League Prizm Soccer release.
They were beautiful there. And if the Jayson Tatum preview Panini has released in advance is anything to go by, this will be a wonderful and welcome addition to the Prizm insert roster.
Panini has touted this as an SP insert, which is likely to have substantial value. And it probably will because this is Prizm and scarcity talks. But my goodness, this seems like an ugly insert. It probably doesn’t help that the Luka Doncic example they used is grey.
But it features an animated version of the player, which I am usually all for. In this case, it looks like Luka went to one of those third-rate caricature artists in Venice Beach and opted for the cheap package.
At this point, Prizm is a $1,000 box of cards. That makes it increasingly annoying and indefensible that the autos here are on the card. More often than not, the stickers aren’t integrated into the design all that successfully, either.
That was to be expected when this was a $300 mid-level release. But it keeps the value of these autos down and makes a rip less worthwhile. Sure, the autos have never been the point of Panini NBA Prizm Basketball. But they are still an essential component in every hobby box.
For years, Panini has been a tour de force in value. The boxes were relatively inexpensive and had the best pound-for-pound resale value of any release.
There is a reason people stood in line to grab these boxes during the COVID-19 years. And it’s not just because we were all bored out of our minds and facing a chilling fear of death and the collapse of civilization.
The singles have also traditionally shown great value. There is a depth to Prizm because of all the parallels it offers that no other product can match. Then add to that inserts and autos also get a bit of a boost because of the brand’s desirability, and you get a recipe for particularly strong card values. Panini NBA Prizm Basketball is a classic for a reason.
But every time the price goes up, upholding the case for inherent Prizm value is more challenging. It is, after all, heavily based on the notion that this is not a high-end product and punches well above its weight. But now, the price is a high-end price.
At the bottom of that scale, but still. That changes the calculation considerably. So, let’s take a look at how the value holds now.
The high 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball prices weren’t created in a vacuum. It’s because they resell really well. Panini felt, understandably, that it was losing money by selling a box worth $2,000 for $300. Let’s see what the recent boxes are worth right now.
| Release | Value |
|---|---|
| 2018-19 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball Hobby Box | $3,994.95 |
| 2019-20 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball Hobby Box | $823 |
| 2020-21 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball Hobby Box | $1,199.95 |
| 2021-22 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball Hobby Box | $849 |
| 2022-23 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball Hobby Box | $749 |
Yes, Panini has done it. They have raised the price of a Panini NBA Prizm Basketball box to a level so high that it is no longer a good buy.
Three out of four of the most recent boxes are worth less than the current price point. The last time we had a box worth a lot more was in the olden pro-COVID bump days. When Luka rookies still roamed the earth.
We all love Prizm, but buying a box that will likely be worth $800-900 for $1,000 isn’t a great deal. This year’s release may do better because of Wemby. But how much better?
That is the only question here, as far as value is concerned. Because without his bump, this is a losing prospect. Just look at how far 2019-20 has plummeted because Zion’s career is not going according to plan.
We have seen that the Panini NBA Prizm Basketball boxes are selling for less in resale and more in presale. Putting the whole profitability model there in question. But what about singles?
Can we still reliably hope to buy cards low and sell them high later on? Is the depth of value for Panini NBA Prizm Basketball still able to overcome the high prices? Let’s see some of the more robust recent sales from the product.
| Card | Value |
|---|---|
| 2020 Panini Prizm Anthony Edwards Rookie Signatures Rookie Card 1/1 White Sparkle (PSA 10) | $59,999 |
| 2022-23 Panini Prizm Prizms Choice NEBULA #101 Stephen Curry 1/1 (PSA 9) | $21,588 |
| LaMelo Ball PSA 9 2020 Panini Prizm Basketball #278 Gold Prizm Rookie Card /10 (PSA 9) | $18,988 |
| 2018-19 Panini Blue Prizm #280 Luka Doncic Mavericks RC Rookie /199 (PSA 10) | $13,996 |
| 2015-16 Panini Prizm Nikola Jokic Purple Rookie (BGS 9.5 ) | $11,999 |
The value of Prizm singles is still as strong as ever. There is a wide selection of precious cards spanning every year of the release. Some of the biggest cards are low-pop veterans. By the way, Anthony Edwards’s cards seem to reign supreme nowadays.
Prizm singles are still the way to go to invest in players.
The new Prizm release has two significant advantages over previous years. First, it includes Wemby rookies. If you think he is honest, these boxes will be worth more than any since 2018-19, at least in the long run.
The design is another great thing about the 2023-24 Panini NBA Prizm Basketball release. It is far better than the weak ones we have gotten used to recently.
Including suitable inserts from other products is less significant but still commendable. In particular, I am thinking of Kaleidoscopic. It certainly makes the insert lineup more appealing.
But there is no getting over how high the prices are for a box. Prizm is not supposed to be a $1,000-a-box product. I know inflation is a problem in this country, but let’s get a grip. We can certainly sympathize with Panini, thinking they can raise the prices from where they were a couple of years ago due to the value of the wax.
But as our analysis shows, the value of boxes from recent years is LOWER than the current selling point. They have turned the best wax investment into a bad one.
This is not very surprising when we consider that Panini has lost the rights to NBA cards and is now trying to milk them for all they are worth. They figure people will pay anything for the Wemby boxes, and maybe they are right. But this is no longer a good deal.
Singles remain a solid option. Though perhaps not in the case of Wemby cards. They may debut at unrealistically high prices. But if you have another player you believe in, like Miller or the Thompson twins, that would be the way to go.
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The 2023-24 Panini Prizm Basketball checklist is below:
| wdt_ID | Set | Player | Team | Position | Card Number | Number of cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Base | Franz Wagner | Orlando Magic | F | 1 | |
| 2 | Base | Jayson Tatum | Boston Celtics | F | 2 | |
| 3 | Base | Trae Young | Atlanta Hawks | G | 3 | |
| 4 | Base | Kawhi Leonard | Los Angeles Clippers | F | 4 | |
| 5 | Base | Kevin Durant | Phoenix Suns | F | 5 | |
| 6 | Base | De'Aaron Fox | Sacramento Kings | G | 6 | |
| 7 | Base | Keegan Murray | Sacramento Kings | F | 7 | |
| 8 | Base | Kristaps Porzingis | Boston Celtics | F | 8 | |
| 9 | Base | Jalen Brunson | New York Knicks | G | 9 | |
| 10 | Base | Malcolm Brogdon | Portland Trail Blazers | G | 10 | |
| Set | Player | Team | Position | Card Number | Number of cards |
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