Having a (Lonzo) Ball: The Sights, Sounds of Panini America’s 2017 NBA Draft Pre-Party
NEW YORK — On Tuesday night in New York City, just a few long Steph Curry 3-pointers or so away from Times Square, Panini America welcomed a few new members to the family during the company’s inaugural NBA Draft Pre-Party inside the impressive National Basketball Players Association corporate facility. The entertaining night featured special appearances from new Panini America athletes Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, Jonathan Isaac and Lauri Markkanen— and veteran leadership provided by Knicks legend John Starks.
In addition to signing some autographs for upcoming Panini America products and projects, the rookies in attendance — representing last night’s second (Ball), third (Tatum), sixth (Isaac) and seventh (Markkanen) overall picks — shot some hoops with party guests, and helped Michael Hodges of STL Sports Cards and Bryan Gavin from Ultimate Box Breaks, crack a few early cases of 2016-17 Spectra Basketball.
Check out the following video and gallery for plenty of behind-the-scenes coverage from the event.
Here’s the video . . .
And the pics . . .