Product Rewind: Panini Innovation Basketball – Making Memorabilia Cards Relevant Again – Every once in a while a product comes along with the promise of being a true “game-changer”. With a bold name like Innovation, collectors and retailers had high hopes when this brand made it’s debut during the 2012-13 NBA season. In many ways the brand lived up to its name. At the very least it showed that Panini’s product development team was up to the challenge.
How Panini Innovation Made Basketball Memorabilia Cards Relevant Again
Panini, to its credit, incorporated a lot of enhanced design features and production elements that brought a much-needed change to the game-used memorabilia card. The often ambiguous language used in recent year’s on the backs of trading cards had left collectors with a waning lack of consumer confidence in the very concept of memorabilia and relic cards and demanded a change.
Panini delivered in the form of the all-new Stat Line memorabilia card set. These cards feature photos from the actual game the jersey was worn. Not only that, but the card set proves that it is aptly named by providing detailed statistics from the specific game in which the player wore the jersey embedded in the card.
This degree of transparency and authenticity is something collectors have been hungry for since the, once common practice, disappeared from the hobby several years ago. It was something that at one time really separated Playoff’s memorabilia cards from that of other manufacturers.
The sophomore follow-up of Innovation Basketball employed the same practice. As a result, cards from both year’s Stat Line set perform well on the secondary market to this day. I think many dealers and collectors wish that all of their single swatch memorabilia cards would sell for some of these realized prices. Yes, the patch and multi-color versions sell for more money, as is normally the case, but when compared to the number of similar cards relegated to dollar bins, anything more profitable is nice.
Panini’s First Stained Glass Trading Cards
While it might not have been an “Innovation” fans of Panini America basketball cards were treated to the company’s, first ever, Stained Glass insert cards. Again, the popularity of the insert set, proved that when companies think outside the (autograph and memorabilia) box, they can create demand and value for insert sets without the assumed prerequisite of the cards being autographed or embedded with material.
The all-acetate cards look great with vivid, bright colors and player images that really “pop”. Player collectors have aggressively pursued these cards as a marquee addition to their personal collections often paying more than most simple insert cards routinely sell for from other sets.
The NBA’s Own “Double Rookie Class”
Often overlooked about the 2012-13 NBA trading card season is that products released during that year 
feature a double rookie class due to a labor dispute the prior season. As a result, quality rookie cards and robust base sets abound and the same is true for 2012-13 Innovation Basketball.
The first year of Innovation Basketball features a 200-card base set including 75 Rookie View cards. These transparent acetate cards are each available in three tiers of colored parallels – Red #’d to 25, Gold #’d to 10 and Platinum 1-of-1’s.
Key Rookies from the 2012-13 NBA Draft Class included on the checklist are: Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving. All of these players have become legitimate NBA stars and Innovation Basketball provides plenty of opportunities to score their key rookie cards.
Even More Dynamic Content
A variety of insert sets add a dynamic chase element for player collectors. Cards from a total of seven different insert sets are liberally seeded within boxes. The themed sets bring collectors even closer to the game and include: All-Rookies, Innovators, Producers, Passing Grade, Efficiency, Swat Team, and Pride of the NBA.
One of the key highlights of the entire product is the Innovation Ink autograph set. A total of 60 rookies and 40 veterans/legends are highlighted with signatures in gold or silver ink. Retired players include true legends like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson!
Every Box of 2012-13 Innovation Basketball delivers (3) Autograph or Memorabilia Cards and (1) Rookie View Card. With current selling prices under $40, this product is an absolute steal and LOADED with tremendous upside potential. This is also the kind of product worth sitting on a case or two as several of the rookies on the checklist are only now starting to see regular playing time. Who knows what other players will emerge as stars from this already stellar draft class?
2012-13 Panini Innovation Basketball Checklist
2013-14 Panini Innovation Basketball Checklist
2013-14 Panini Innovation Basketball
The following year, Panini tweaked the pack-out configuration to deliver specific GUARANTEES in Every Box! They kept the elements of the inaugural release from the previous year that made it so popular but upped the value equation considerably by insuring specific hit ratios.
Every Box of 2013-14 Panini Innovation Basketball delivers (2) Autographs, (1) Memorabilia Card, (1) View Card, (1) Stained Glass Insert and (1) Additional Insert Card.
New inclusions to the brand included Top Notch Die-Cut autographed cards. This set features a great mix of retired greats, fan favorites and veteran superstars with each card #’d to 325 or less. A gold parallel version #’d to 25 or less is also available.
Also new in 2013-14 Panini Innovation Basketball is a key upgrade with the inclusion of the shadowbox-style ON-CARD autographs in Main Exhibit Signatures. Pictures truly don’t do these cards any justice what-so-ever. The checklist includes veterans and retired players (#’d to 199 or less) and rookies (#’d to 299 or less)
An odd and quirky addition to 2013-14 Innovation Basketball is the cartoon-like, illustrated Kaboom insert set. If you haven’t checked the realized prices for some of these cards, sit down before you click here. Go ahead, we’ll wait for you. Insane right?!
Key rookies on the checklist include: Tony Snell, Michael Carter-Williams, Victor Oladipo, Shabazz Muhammad, Tim Hardaway Jr. Glen Rice Jr., Nerlen Noels to name a few. The pedigree of a couple of these players means good potential investment value for their rookie cards as they start to enter their prime and accrue more playing time.
Remarkably, the current selling price of this release is also under $40 making for an affordable break that has a lot of upside in terms of risk vs. reward.
2013-14 Panini Innovation Basketball – Image Gallery
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