Panini Prizm is the flagship product for basketball and is one of the most in-demand sets in the hobby. Here we will be looking at some of the most popular cards from these sets, the 2012 Kawhi Leonard, 2013 Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2018 Luka Doncic and 2019 Zion Williamson base vs. silver population reports, as these players have the most graded copies via PSA.
2012 Kawhi Leonard:
Base: 2,120
PSA 10: 1,086
PSA 9: 888
PSA 8: 117
Silver: 71
PSA 10: 39
PSA 9: 28
PSA 8: 3
Ratio: 29.36:1
2013 Giannis Antetokounmpo:
Base: 3,887
PSA 10: 2,564
PSA 9: 1,061
PSA 8: 185
Silver: 151
PSA 10: 75
PSA 9: 66
PSA 8: 6
Ratio: 25.41:1
2018 Luka Doncic:
Base: 29,328
PSA 10: 16,859
PSA 9: 11,993
PSA 8: 783
Silver: 4,291
PSA 10: 2,041
PSA 9: 2,004
PSA 8: 229
Ratio: 6.83:1
2019 Zion Williamson:
Base: 31,741
PSA 10: 17,134
PSA 9: 13,454
PSA 8: 844
Silver: 3,667
PSA 10: 1,228
PSA 9: 2,167
PSA 8: 246
Ratio: 8.51:1
Summary: The ratios tell us that silver parallels were very limited when they were first introduced. As the numbers show, Panini ramped up production across the board in their 2018 set, which is understandable because the sports card market was surging and the draft class was extremely talented. As the print runs increased, so too did the base and Silver parallels.
An interesting part about the data is the 2018 vs. 2019 ratio, where there were more silvers graded by PSA in 2018 than 2019. Panini realized how much demand silver prizms brought in 2018 and decided to keep them limited in 2019, making the chase for silvers a big deal.
Looking at the numbers from an investment mindset, the silver prizms are what I would be going after. With such a low population compared to base, silvers should have a higher rate of growth, and with less supply the value should hold better in a soft market. I know Silvers cost a lot more, that’s why we need to look at percentages.
Using Card Ladder, let’s look prices over the past year (4/28/20-4/28/21)
Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm PSA 10: The rate of growth for his base is 123% while his silver is 250%.
Zion Williamson 2019 Prizm PSA 10: The rate of growth for his base PSA 10 is 5% while his silver is 49%.
You will also notice that the Kawhi and Giannis base vs. silver rates of growth are more closer than that of Luka and Zion. I believe this is because both the 2012 and 2013 sets have such a smaller supply than that of the 2018 and 2019 sets. There are only 71 Giannis silvers, so the sales are few and far between. This may cause the rate of growth to be a bit skewed.
Giannis Antetokounmpo 2013 Prizm PSA 10: The rate of growth for his base PSA 10 is 49% while his silver is 27%.
Kawhi Leonard 2012 Prizm PSA 10: The rate of growth for his base PSA 10 is 54% while his silver is 57%.
