Panini America, Taco Bell Team Up for Tasty 150-Card NBA Hoops Kid’s Meal Set

There’s simply no way to overstate the manifold magnificence of Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos. For my money, they represent arguably the most delectable development in recent culinary history. But no matter how compellingly consumable and overwhelmingly popular they’ve become (in original or new Cool Ranch form), they still may not be the most important factor driving kids and collectors into Taco Bell outlets across the country for the next few months.

For a limited time at participating locations, there are 150 other items on the Taco Bell menu — special 2012-13 NBA Hoops Basketball trading cards created exclusively for Taco Bell kid’s meals — that could prove to be every bit as popular as those crazy tacos.

In a special promotion that began earlier this month and will run until late May, every Taco Bell kid’s meal comes with one five-card pack of the special 2012-13 NBA Hoops Basketball cards. The 150-card set includes five players from each of the 30 NBA teams, rounded corners and updated photography for the 14 rookies in the set. In addition, each of the those Rookie Cards also includes a special “Rated Rookie” logo.

Following a somewhat stealthy start, the promotion has started to gain momentum among the collecting crowd in recent days, drawing inquisitive emails to the Panini America inbox and generating chatter on Twitter.

In addition, the Taco Bell set also includes updated photography for several star players whose off-season team changes were not captured in the mainstream 2012-13 NBA Hoops release earlier this season, including Joe Johnson (Brooklyn Nets), Jason Kidd (New York Knicks), Andrew Bynum (Philadelphia 76ers), Landry Fields (Toronto Raptors), Jeremy Lin (Houston Rockets), Andre Iguodala (Denver Nuggets), Ray Allen (Miami Heat), Steve Nash (Los Angeles Lakers) and Dwight Howard (Lakers).

Today, we’re pulling the curtain back by showcasing some of the sweet cards in the set, including images of all 14 Rookie Cards featuring 2012 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot imagery as well as images of the nine veterans mentioned above.

For the record, both of my sons are in the process of building their complete Taco Bell sets. After all, every kid’s meal they order represents another Doritos Locos Tacos opportunity for me. Talk about the ultimate win-win situation.