Panini announces SP autos for NBA Hoops

Posted Jun 12, 2012 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Jun 12, 2012 at 06:49 PM

Putting together a set of autographs from Panini America’s 2012 NBA Hoops set is going to difficult. And in fact, putting a complete set is going to be almost impossible unless a collector pulls a certain card.

Panini announced Tuesday that 131 of the 174 autographs in its Hoops set are short-printed cards, and that 48 of those cards are numbered to 25 or fewer copies.

One card—Oklahoma City’s James Harden (No. 171) is a 1/1 card, so unless you have this card, forget about completing an autograph set. It’s a curious move by Panini, and it certainly will frustrate some collectors.

Some of the players who will have ony 25 autograph cards include Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Paul Pierce, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and Chris Bosh.

Some players, however, will have more than one autograph card in the set, numbered to 25 or less. In fact, some players will have three different autograph cards, limited to 25. Sound confusing? Here are a few examples.

Bryant will have card Nos. 258, 261 and 278; Nowitzki (45, 268, 278), Paul (158, 259, 274), Derrick Rose (28, 248, 273) and Durant (170, 262, 270 ).

Autograph collectors are going to be pulling their hair out. It’s definitely a challenge.