2024-2025 Prizm Basketball Hanger Box

24-25 Prizm:  Shai and the Oklahoma City Thunder have done nothing in the playoffs to change the thought that they are the top team in the league.

These hit the shelves some time ago and I finally bit.  Pretty good-looking cards.  I'm not a shiny card guy but I like these.  

Neither of these two have made an impression on the league just yet.

Global Reach isn't a bad looking insert.  Instant Impact gives us color which isn't necessarily a Prizm staple so we get something different.  Emergent is meh.

Here are two of my parallels - Orange Ice and Green Ice parallels.

There are 30 retired greats in this set and I probably pulled the two players I'd want from the subset.

The backs are nice.  Big photo, color, logo, minimal stats and write-up.  I'm good with them outside of the void of stats.  Here we have a retired great, veteran and rookie.

I'll end it with big Star Wars fan and PC guy Brook Lopez.  Good pull in and nice-looking cards.  This box was a win.

BREAKDOWN:
20 – Total Cards
5 – RC
3 – Orange Ice Parallels
2 – Emergent
2 – Retired Greats
2 – Green Ice Parallels
1 – Global Reach
1 – Instant Impact

2022-2023 Prizm Basketball Hanger Box

 22-23 Prizm: We'll kick this off with 2024 Olympic Basketball player Bam Adebayo.  Bam doesn't get a ton of press, but he will get you close to 20 points per game and 10 rebounds while playing excellent defense (5X All-Defense) at the center position.

I'm not a shiny card guy though I probably don't need to say that all the time.  Still, I pick these up from time to time.  Grabbed this pack in December and guess I'd forgot about it.  The design isn't bad.  I like the team appropriate colors in the outline.  Borders are probably too big though but overall solid look here.  I've always been skeptical of Kyrie, but he and the Mavs made a surprise run to the Finals this last season.  Jusuf Nurkic went to the Suns in the 3-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to the Bucks.  Nurkic fit in great in Phoenix pulling down 11 boards a game and setting a career high with four assists per game.

The backs are fine though the 3PM, steal, block and points totals befuddle me.  Nobody pays attention to totals in this manner.  And where is their three-point percentage?

Young players.  Jabari Walker had a solid second season in Portland putting up eight points per game but hasn't shown any range from deep yet.

I like the Impact insert and all the color.  Not sure about Emergent.  Very simple but I think it is growing on me.  Neither of these guys had a good 2023-2024 season but AJ Griffin did show some promise in rookie campaign scoring eight a game in 22-23.

Jrue Holiday was part of that great Celtics team that won the NBA Finals against the Mavs.  His defense plays anywhere, and this was his second ring after getting one with Milwaukee.  He's also part of the Olympic basketball team in France.  We also get a retired great.  Feels like I pull a lot of Wade but there's nothing wrong with that.

BREAKDOWN:

12 – Total Cards

1 – Emergent

1 – Retired Great

1 – Instant Impact

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Prizm Hanger Pack

23-24 Prizm: Jimmy Butler and the Heat had another disappointing season.  There are rumors he could be moved this offseason as Miami hasn't been keen to give him an extension based on his injury history.  Butler has played 60 or more games only twice in his five full seasons with the Heat.  His high was 64 games last season.  Still his time in Miami has been excellent as they've reached the NBA Finals twice.

This Prizm look is one I like.  Nice pull from this pack as well which had 20 cards.

Amongst these rookies we see an Orange Ice and Green Parallel.  Orange Ice Parallels are exclusive to hanger boxes.  Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a solid first year averaging 11 points per game.

Keldon Johnson regressed some this year but with the arrival of Wemby I'm sure he's not the only Spur to have his stats go down.  San Antontio was really bad.  It'll be interesting to see what they do to build around their young and talented core.

I really like these Dominance inserts with the red as opposed to blue seen in my previous Prizm post on the  Kyrie Dominance card.  It helps these are both favorite players of mine.  Not sure why they scanned differently sitting side by side though.  Unsure about Deep Space inserts but I'm always good with a LeBron pull.

BREAKDOWN:

20 – Total Cards

4 – RC

3 – Orange Ice Parallel

2 – Dominance

1 – Deep Space

1 – Green Parallel

 

2023 Prizm Draft Picks

23-24 Prizm Draft Picks:  Seen the blasters of these on the shelves of this set but I'm not a shiny card guy and the price for the cards just doesn't work that well.  But when I saw packs on the shelf I thought why not.  You're chasing Wembanyama in these sets but you really need to buy in bulk to have a real chance.

Overall these are good looking cards in hand.  You might get someone good or someone who hasn't seen the court in these packs.  Desmond Bane is another veteran you'll find in the set.  At least we get to see their college unis.

Michigan alum Kobe Bufkin has actually seen the court this season averaging 4 PPG for the Hawks.

Red Ice and Green Parallels.  I really like the look of the red borders on these.  

We do get retired greats in the set but unfortunately they give us black and white photos which takes away much of the excitement of seeing these NBA legends.

The backs aren't great but they do have some color and the team logos which is a plus.  Not a lot of excitement for me in this pack.  Maybe a blaster with more cards would have helped with star power or even a Wemby card.  This will be my last pack of these but I am glad I checked them out.

BREAKDOWN:

10 – Total Cards

4 – RC

2 – Retired Greats

1 – Green Parallel

1 – Red Ice Parallel

2023-2024 Prizm Basketball Blaster

23-24 Prizm:  I'm not a Prizm guy but thought I'd try a box when I saw them hit the shelves locally.  Jalen Brunson will make his first all-star appearance in the 18 February All-Star game in Indy.  I was so wrong on this guy.  I thought Dallas did the right thing letting him go to the Knicks.  What do I know right?  He's averaging 27 points and 6 assists per game this season.

I like this design even if I'm not a shiny card guy.  They look good in hand and they weren't as bowed as much as some shiny cards tend to be.

Some rookie love.  Sasser is the tops amongst this group averaging 7+ points a game.

Neither of these two have made a mark on the NBA this season but they are young.  I like the Instant Impact cards.

The Christian Wood card is one of my Ice Prizm Parallels while Kevin Love is a Green Parallel.  We have a MarJon Beauchamp appearance?  Hmmm.  My pull didn't wow me.  No offense to Brunson, Kyrie or Carmelo.  Just didn't stick the landing for me.  I know better than to expect a Wembanyama in every blaster but it still felt a little flat.

I really like the Dominance cards, front and back.  Kyrie shows off the front while that Zion is a Dominance back.  Love the big logo.  Kind of psychedelic.  Carmelo was my retired great.  The backs on the base cards is okay but a different photo would have been nice.

BREAKDOWN:
24 – Total Cards
7 – RC
3 – Ice Prizm Parallel
2 – Dominance
2 – Green Parallel
1 – Emergent
1 – Retired Great
1 – Instant Impact

2022 WWE Prizm Blaster

2022 Prizm WWE: Grabbed a few of these blasters at Wal-Mart and second guessed myself instantly. The price was $34.98 per.  I assumed they were in the twenty-something range.  They were hot for a New York minute so even the secondary market isn't that hot if I want to offload them.  So I opened one and I'm still thinking on the others.  I really liked this Prizmatic Entrances insert.  Prizm never shows that well in scans but the full bleed color top portion of the card really pops in hand.  And Charlotte makes everything look good...right?

The base set checklist is pretty strong at 200 cards in Panini's initial WWE Prism release.  It includes wrestlers across the platforms as well as retired greats.  Still trying to figure out what they were going for with Undertaker.  I guess I can kind of get it but I'm not sure it works for me.

I think I like the design, but I feel they could have done better.  I'm not a shiny card guy so the finer points on them are sometimes lost on me.

I like how the Gold insert scanned more than I like it in hand.  The background and border is more silver than I'd like.  I saw photos online that made them look like they had a black background and pretty cool.  Next Level are pretty nice and colorful.  And a nice looking Dusty Rhodes card.  So many fun memories of this guy.  

The first 100 in the set are horizonal cards.

This is another cool looking card with that background.  Good job on the photo.

My Green Pulsar pull.

The backs are fine with a repeat of the front photo.  

Decent Prizm debut for Panini.  Wrestling always lends to good photos and I think they did a decent job of getting good photos on cardboard.  I'll end it with a fun Bayley photo on this Fearless insert.  

BREAKDOWN:
24 – Total Cards
4 – Retired Greats
3 – RC
1 - Gold
1 - Fearless
1 – Next Level
1 – Green Pulsar
1 – Prizmatic Entrances

Random Wax: 2020-2021 Prizm Draft Picks Basketball

 2020-2021 Prizm Draft Picks: We'll kick off this pack with Onyeka Okongwu who has played well as the back up center for the Hawks.  Atlanta has done better of late as they got healthy but still sit at #10 in the Eastern Conference.  Not sure they can get out of the play in tourney but they really have looked good lately.

Anthony Edwards is a favorite of mine.  He's struggled a bit the last few weeks but he is still a big reason for hope for the Minnesota Timberwolves' future.

I really like the Red, White & Blue parallels.  Stewart and Maledon are both averaging eight points a game while Stewart is also grabbing seven boards a game.

I like the Crusade inserts.  None of these guys have found their footing in the league yet but as is always the case with Draft Picks it'll take some years for these guys to really define who they are in the league.  

Draft pick brands are not a favorite of mine.  I always prefer having a veteran presence in anything I buy but that doesn't stop me from picking these up.  Devin Vassell is averaging eight points a game but might play a bigger role for the Spurs as they look to rebuild.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
3 – Red, White & Blue Parallel
2 – Crusade
2 – Green Parallel