With the NBA Finals ahead, we decided to crack a box (or a pack) of the new 2022-23 Panini Crown Royale Basketball.
Crown Royale, one of the more elegantly designed mid-tier releases each basketball season, is instantly recognizable due to the literal gold crown found atop the base and parallel cards each year.
The eight card packs consist of one autograph and one memorabilia card, on average. The current online cost is running between $275 and $300 per box.
Roll out the red carpet and let the trumpets blare, we are ripping into this regal box.
Our base cards included one of Denver Nuggets superstar center and two time MVP Nikola Jokic, Portland Trailblazer superstar point guard Damian Lillard and Indiana Pacers up and comer Tyrese Haliburton. 
We pulled a nice blue cracked ice parallel of New York Knicks semi star RJ Barrett. Barrett had a promising season and was a solid contributor to the Knicks playoff run.
We were excited to pull a base rookie of Oklahoma City thunder is Chet Holmgren. Although he missed the entire rookie season, there are high hopes and big expectations for the young buck. As an aside, it is really nice to get a superstar base rookie card out of this product and not have to find a super limited, autographed or memorabilia version (although I’m sure you can find those if that’s what you desire).
We also had a very sharp RookieRoyalty die cut card of first year Milwaukee Bucks youngster MarJon Beauchamp. This is Crown at its best, an elegantly and elaborately designed, die cut, gold foiled, low numbered insert. The rook only averaged five points and two boards per contest this season competing for time on a talented roster but the Bucks like his skills.. 
Our memorabilia hit was that of veteran Terry Rozier. Interestingly enough, we received a green piece of Scary Terry memorabilia from the current…Charlotte Hornet. After a quick flip of the card to the backside, it states that it’s from his time with the Celtics, which makes sense but still makes for a weird card color combination right in front of your card collecting face.
Our RPA featured is San Antonio Spurs rookie Blake Wesley. Although not an overly valuable card, it is a nice combination of a large white swatch with an on card auto. The Notre Dame golden domer averaged five points, two boards and two assists per game this season.
I feel like I’m saying this pretty often but the pack did not meet our financial expectations. That’s almost assumed at this point in the game and that is, unfortunately, the current state of the market. They are very esthetically pleasing cards and it was a fun rip but there’s nothing to write home about… unless you’re a friend or family member of Mr. Wesley. Crown Royale offers a really unique look but we felt more like paupers after opening this box.
Check out sports card boxes of all kinds in Sports Zone’s online store here.
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