Collectors who were wishing there were trading cards for the NBA Finals right now will have that wish granted. Panini is using its real-time trading card platform and exclusive NBA license to produce on-demand cards for the Finals.
Available to order for just 48 hours, the cards in the 2016 NBA Finals set feature players from both the champion Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving from the Cavs, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green from the Warriors all have cards in the set.
Panini had cards from the first six games available to order on Monday but indicated its Game 7 cards wouldn’t be ready until Tuesday. There will be 15 cards in all, commemorating each game of the seven-game Series including one devoted to James’ Finals MVP award, one featuring a Cavaliers team celebration and one capturing Irving’s game-winning 3-pointer from Game 7.
The concept is much like what Topps is doing with its NOW platform, but there is a bit of a twist with Panini’s newly launched Instant concept. While Topps sells only single cards, printed to the number of orders that are placed in a 24-hour period, Panini is offering a few other options.
Unlike Topps NOW, which offers cards on virtually every day of the baseball season, Panini released all of its cards from the Finals in one fell swoop for that two-day period.
Instant cards are available on the Panini Instant website in base versions ($9.99 each) that are print-to-order but also in limited-edition versions numbered to 25 ($49.99), five ($99.99) and only one ($249.99), respectively.
“Captivating moments like we saw last night during Game 7 and throughout this NBA Finals are what the Panini Instant platform is all about, it’s why Panini Instant was developed,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “The ability to capture the most exciting moments in sports on real-time trading cards is an exciting evolution for fans and collectors everywhere.”
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