This week, we decided to open a box of 2022-23 Panini Origins Basketball. We were able to acquire a full case in stock of this product, which is just arriving at hobby shops and online this week. 
Origins is a seven card box that promises two autographs or memorabilia cards so this will indeed be a very brief break. The artistic, smoky, high-end design has come a long way since the brand’s inception as a football product quite a few years ago. Current prices in stores and online are pushing $325 and up.
We ripped our thick, silver pack right open and the first card was numbered rookie card of Oklahoma City Thunder newcomer Ousmane Dieng.
The rook is getting some playing time as the regular season winds down, averaging five points and three boards per contest, but we’re not exactly off to a flying start.
The second card was a base card of Memphis Grizzlies embattled star Ja Morant. Its a cool image of a sample of Morant’s otherworldly acrobatics on the court.
Collectors and those who stuck away some of his cards in hopes of a long, highlight filled career were happy to see him get back on the court Wednesday night. He’s an electrifying player who’s still young and hopefully he can maintain a positive image going forward.
The third card was our second rookie card, that of Detroit Pistons guard Jalen Duren.
This was the first card of the box that sold when we listed the contents online. Duren shows flashes of a bright future and has strung together a number of double-doubles in March.
Next up we pulled a numbered card of Portland Trailblazers superstar Damian Lillard, numbered 5 of 25. This is a nice limited Origins parallel. Unfortunately, collectors will never be able to pull a serial numbered card to match Dame’s jersey number.
We saw the back of the next card first and instantly lit up as the long name of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed itself. That alone is a positive but when we flipped it over to the front, we saw that it was a game worn/used material card of the Milwaukee Bucks superstar.
It’s just a small, plain green swatch but it’s hard to complain when you land a relic card of a guy as popular as Giannis.
We got our RPA next. It featured a sticker signature of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Max Christie, numbered 18/25. At this point, Max has been an afterthought, only getting three starts this season and seeing an average of 13 minutes of playing time per game.
This is a sweet multi colored patch, for what its worth. (not much).
Our final card was an Originals insert of Orlando Magic sure-fire Rookie of the Year, Paolo Banchero. He’s putting up grown man numbers in his rookie campaign including 20 points per game and nearly seven boards per night.
While the Banchero was a nice way to finish, we didn’t come anywhere near making our 300-plus dollars back out of this box. In fact, we will be lucky to get 25% percent of the cost. Another tough pill to swallow.
Hopefully this means the collectors who buy some of the other boxes came away with better hits.
Here’s a checklist just so you can get an idea of what’s possible.
2022-23-Panini-Origins-NBA-Basketball-Cards-Checklist
And by the way, this is a good time to plug my new series Better Than a Box, where we’ll be picking out some really nice single cards of a top player we could buy for about the same price as a new Hobby box.
Check out sports card boxes of all kinds in Sports Zone’s online store here.
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