Panini America Inks Exclusive Agreements with Seven Top 2012 NBA Draft Prospects

Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company and the exclusive and official trading card manufacturer of the NBA, announced today that it has reached exclusive trading card agreements with seven of the top projected first-round picks in advance of Thursday’s 2012 NBA Draft, including Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Thomas Robinson and Harrison Barnes.

Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company and the exclusive and official trading card manufacturer of the NBA, announced today that it has reached exclusive trading card agreements with seven of the top projected first-round picks in advance of Thursday’s 2012 NBA Draft, including Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Thomas Robinson and Harrison Barnes.

The agreements grant Panini America exclusive rights to produce autographed trading cards of these future NBA stars who will join standout members of the 2011 NBA Draft class – including Panini America exclusive Kyrie Irving, Derrick Williams, Kenneth Faried and more – to form a Double Rookie Card class in all of Panini America’s 2012-13 NBA trading card releases. This marks the first time a Double Rookie Card class has existed in the NBA.

In addition to Kidd-Gilchrist (fresh off winning a National Championship at the University of Kentucky), Robinson (the 2012 Big 12 Player of the Year from the University of Kansas) and Barnes (a 2012 First Team All-ACC selection from North Carolina), Panini America also inked exclusive agreements with Andre Drummond, Austin Rivers, Jared Sullinger and John Henson.

Sullinger earned First Team All-America honors last season at Ohio State, averaging 17.5 points while leading the Buckeyes to the Final Four. Rivers, the son of Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, averaged 15.5 ppg as a Duke freshman during the 2011-12 season. Henson twice earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors at North Carolina. In his lone season at the University of Connecticut, Drummond averaged 10 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game.

“We’re genuinely excited to add these gentlemen – the next generation of NBA superstars – to the Panini America family, and we can’t wait to get their first trading cards into the hands of fans and collectors,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “The presence of these players in our complete line of 2012-13 products, in concert with the best rookies from the 2011-12 season, will create an unprecedented opportunity for fans and collectors to pursue a Double Rookie Card class in Panini America’s official NBA products throughout the entire season.”

“By adding this dynamic group of players to its roster, Panini America has bolstered what promises to be a great season for NBA trading cards,” said Lisa Goldberg, the NBA’s Vice President of Licensing and Global Merchandising. “Panini America continues to create new and innovative ways to generate excitement in the trading card industry and the 2012-13 double Rookie Card program is another example.”

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14 Replies to “Panini America Inks Exclusive Agreements with Seven Top 2012 NBA Draft Prospects”

  1. Excellent Job guys, Love the Sullinger signing. I think he may end up being the sleeper of this draft. Cant go wrong with a Fellow Buckeye !

  2. HELL YEAH!!!! Paninis already got me pumped for the 2012-2013 season! Ive been waiting to get my hands on some Kyrie Irving Rookies! Tracy could you tell me what product Panini will be releasing first to kick off The double rookie cards?

  3. Nice to see….are you guys doing any special cards for the new draftees on Thursday like you guys have done for football??

    Also, I have asked this before and others have as well and either gotten no reply back or told it is coming soon, buuuut can we PLEASE see a checklist for Limited and Gold Standard Basketball??? I mean all or most of the cards are already printed and signed and it would take literally 5 minutes to create a little blog blurb and attach an excel and PDF of the checklists to it.

    You guys do a great job of previewing products and other things, but getting checklists, at least when it comes to basketball products, has been kind of a pain.

    1. You’re right about that, and that’s my fault. I have the best intentions, I promise. We typically post all of our checklists on our Website (www.paniniamerica.net), but I will make a better effort to get them posted here on the blog, too.

      1. I understand that they are posted on the regulsa website, but that is usually not until the day the product comes out.

        Others and myself would like to see the checklists a bit prior to release. You guys used to release the checklists when you first previewed the products and months before they released. So I guess is there any chance we can see those two checklists sometime in the very near future (aka this week)??

    1. You’re right there is no such thing as competition! What this means however is that it guarantees that all of these guys will only have autograph cards in all 22 releases of our 2012-13 Panini NBA products. So, yes you might be able to get some college stuff – but those we’d be common cards and definitely will not have autos of these guys in them!

  4. The Manimal! Glad to hear you guys secured Faried, really looking forward to seeing his autograped Panini cards.

    I got a chance to meet him back in April and he signed an 8×10 for me, very nice guy.

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