Random Wax: 2022-2023 Donruss Basketball

22-23 Donruss:  Dame and the Blazers have started off the year well.  Still a long way to go but it's been fun so far.  The 7X All-NBA, 9X All-Star and 75th Anniversary Team member rejoined Portland after playing in Milwaukee for two seasons.

This is a solid design I like and there's some good photography to boot.  Jrue Holiday is a Portland Trail Blazer as well, after being part of the trade sending Dame to the Bucks in 2023.  He's won a championship with the Bucks and the Celtics.  He's also been selected to the All-Defensive Team 6X.

Jalen Williams is a big part of the Thunder and their success and their 2024-2025 Championship.  He's averaged 18 points per game shooting 37% from deep in his 5 seasons in OKC.

My inserts. I like the look on the Complete Players design.  Franchise Features isn't bad either. Trae Young is now a part of the new look Wizards and Kawhi is back in Toronto where he helped them win their only championship.

My Green Laser Holo Parallel.  I picked this pack up as part of a recent Wal-Mart online purchase.

Fun pack of cards and a pretty good pull.  Some favorite players for me as well and lots of fun remembering what was in 2022-2023.  RJ Barrett is another big piece of that Raptors team.

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

3 – Rated Rookie

1 – Complete Players

1 – Franchise Features

1 – Green Laser Holo Parallel

Random Wax: 2024-25 Panini Haunted Hoops (4 Packs)

24-25 Haunted Hoops:   Steph Curry is starting his 18th season. He averaged 26 points and shot 39% from deep in his age 37 season last year.

RJ Barrett and the Raptors will have Kawhi Leonard on board this season.  I'll be curious if that helps the Raptors take the next step.  Barrett has averaged almost 19 points per game over his seven seasons.  We have a Pumpkin and a Slime Parallel here.  I like the parallels.  There are also Holo Bats, Holo Sky, Holo Treats and Holo Webs parallels.

The backs have some spookiness to them as well.  It's definitely scary how good Steph still is at this age.

I'm a Domantas Sabonis fan and I'm hoping he'll have a bounce back year after being injured last season.  He led the league in rebounding 3 seasons in a row before being hurt last year.

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
3 – Pumpkin Parallel
1 – Slime Parallel

2026 Score-a-Treat Multi-Sport (20 Packs)

2026 Score-a-Treat:   Ray Lewis is about as scary as any player out there.  He was a 7X 1st Team All-Pro.  For reference, the all-time leaders, Jerry Rice and Otto Graham, had 10X 1st Team All-Pro selections and Tom Brady, for all his greatness, was only selected 3X.

Not having a license in any of the major sports didn't scare Panini off from releasing a set specific to the Halloween season.  In this set you'll see baseball, basketball, boxing and football cards.  Here we have a Holo Bones Parallel #/149, Pumpkins Parallel, and Holo Webs Parallel.

Plenty of retired greats in this set and we get Calvin Johnson on a Slime Parallel.  I'm not usually a fan of sets with no team logos but I picked these up since they were new, they are cheap, and they are Halloween themed.  That Dan Fouts card is a base card with white borders.  He led the league in passing yards 4 straight seasons and passing yards per game for 6 seasons.

NIL players are a big part of the set including 19 of the 60 cads from these packs.  We also see RC cards.  Plenty of youngsters across the sports.

Monster Bash cards are one of the subsets.  Not sure how much I feel "monster bash" with this design.  I think they could have hammered that home better.

These cards are sold in a "bundle" like Panini's previous Halloween themed sets.  There are 40 packs per bundle with 3 cards in each set.

The design overall is fine.  I wish every card had a Halloween type of border but still these are okay.  I didn't see these at Wal-Mart so I did grab two bundles on eBay.  I'll share these in the upcoming years in 20-pack increments.

Haunted House is the other subset and I like these.  We get a haunted house in the background which gives us a good visual.  These are fun cards for the price and theme, and perfect for October.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
19 – NIL
12 – Monster Bash
8 – Pumpkin Parallel
7 – Slime Parallel
7 – Haunted House
4 - RC
3 – Holo Webs Parallels 
1 – Holo Skeletons Parallel #/149

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Haunted Hoops - 5 Packs

23-24 Haunted Hoops:   Anthony Edwards is only 25 and already a 2X All-NBA selectee.  He's averaging 24/5/4 on 36% long range shooting in his 6-season career.  I can't wait to see what the T-Wolves look like with newest addition LaMelo Ball.

Chris Paul retired after last season.  His 21-season Hall of Fame career saw him be a 11X All-NBA selection leading the league in assists 5X and steals 6X.  He was also a 9X All-Defensive Team member.  These cards are sold in "bundles" which have 20 packs with 3 cards per pack.

Jeremy Sochan saw his time on the court dwindle in San Antonio after being an All-Rookie selection and was traded to the New York mid-season.  While he only averaged 2 points a game for the Knicks, he did take home a championship ring.  We see Slime and Orange parallels here.  Slime is my favorite.  Orange is a bit dull. 

Trae Young will play his first full season with the Washington Wizards who also acquired Anthony Davis and selected AJ Dybantsa with the #1 pick in the NBA draft.  These are always fun cards and perfect for the season.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
3 – Orange
2 – RC
2 – Slime
1 – Rising Stars

Random Wax: 2025-2026 Topps Basketball Hanger Box

25-26 Topps:   Cooper Flagg was the 2025-2026 NBA Rookie of the Year averaging 21 PPG, 6 RPG and 4 APG.  This Diamante Parallel which is exclusive to hanger boxes.  NBA starts tonight!

Great pull in this box. SGA won his second consecutive MVP award.  He and the Thunder will play at San Antonio tonight in a rematch of the Western Conference Finals.

One of my checklist cards.  I'm a big Domantis Sabonis fan so this was a fun pull for me.  I like that photo.

Dylan Harper was 4th in Rookie of the Year voting and a big part of the Spurs' run to the NBA Finals.

Kon Kneuppel really was clutch and gave Cooper Flagg a run for the Rookie of the Year award, coming in 2nd place receiving 44 of the 100 1st place votes.  He averaged 18/5/3 while shooting 42% for the Hornets.

Another Dylan Harper pull on this 1980-1981 Topps Basketball card.  We also have a Rainbow Foil Parallel and another Diamante Parallel.

Generation Now inserts are fine.

Paolo Banchero on a very colorful and sharp looking Power Players insert.  He averaged 22 PPG, a career high 8 RPG, and 5 APG last season.

DeMar DeRozan is now with the Denver Nuggets and another of my favorite players in the league.  He's 16th on the all-time points list.

KAT is one of the newly minted 2025-2026 NBA Champions.

Checklist card.

Great box of cards and so much fun.  I love retired greats and these are definitely some of the all-time greats.  George Gervin could flat out score.  The 4X scoring champ averaged 25.1 points per game for his career, good for 14th all-time.  He was also a 7X All-NBA, 2X All-NBA, 12X All-Star, and a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

BREAKDOWN:

59 – Total Cards

12 – RC

4 - Checklist

4 – Retired Greats

2 – 8-Bit Ballers

2 – Diamante Parallels

1 – Power Players

1 – Generation Now

1 – Rainbow Foil Parallel

1 – Clutch City Prospects

1 - 1980-1981 Topps Basketball

Random Wax: 2025-2026 Topps Basketball

25-26 Topps:   Kevin Durant is nothing short of amazing.  One of the best scorers in his era, if not the best, he could shoot from anywhere on the court and is just a baller.  So happy I was able to see this guy play and he ain't done yet.  He was 37 years old last season but still scored 26 points per game while shooting 41% from deep.  He's led the league in scoring 4X in his 18-year career.

Happy Tyrese Haliburton will return from injury this year.  Last time we saw him, he was hurt in the 2025 NBA Finals against the Thunder.  He only played 7 minutes in game 7 before getting hurt.  Man, we wanted to see that game with a healthy Haliburton.

Walter Clayton Jr. averages 7 points and 4 assists per game for the Utah Jazz.  The Jazz have made plenty of moves and look to make a big move this next season.  Should be fun to watch.

Everyone's excited about Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs who made it to the NBA Finals this year.

Jaren Jackson Jr. is one of those new pieces in Utah meant to take them to the next level.  

Nice Checklist card.  Neither Zaccharie Risacher (Mavericks) nor Trae Young (Wizards) are still with the Hawks as have both been traded.

Big man Alex Sarr took a step forward this year averaging 16 and 7 for the Wizards in 2025-2026.

My other Checklist.

Guard love.  One of the all-time greats in Chris Paul, shooter Trey Murphy and Kyrie who can do so much.

All-time greats!  Always a favorite of mine.  Nice pull with KG and Dirk Nowitzki.

8-Bit Ballers is an okay insert.  Not really my thing but Topps is doing a retro thing which is fine.  Great pack of cards.

BREAKDOWN:
36 – Total Cards
4 – Retired Greats
3 – RC
2 - Checklist
2 – Generation Now
1 – 8-Bit Ballers