PANINI CONTENDERS OPTIC

2020-21 RELEASE COMING LATE NOVEMBER

Like past years, 2020-21 Panini Contenders Optic Basketball takes the season’s main Contenders release and gives it a chromium makeover. So it’s still rooted in the autograph chase but there’s additional colors to go along with it.

Contenders Optic does take a more premium approach with its configuration as well. Hobby boxes have a single pack of six cards. Of those, one’s an autograph, two are inserts and two are parallels. That leaves space for a single regular base card.

The main base set falls under the Season Ticket banner, spotlighting NBA veterans. The general layout and design are the same as 2020-21 Panini Contenders Basketball but the change in stock makes for a very different feel. It’s like comparing Donruss and Donruss Optic or Topps and Topps Chrome.

Parallels take on a variety of colors including Silver, Red, Blue

(/99), Orange (/49), Green Pulsar (/25), Gold (/10) and Gold Vinyl (1/1). Black Pandora parallels might not be serial numbered but, according to Panini, they are still tough short prints.

Rookie Season Tickets include oncard autographs. Besides the usual mix of parallels, there are also variations with different photos.

Select stars have Veteran Ticket Autograph inserts.

1983 Tribute Autographs find their inspiration from the nearly 40-yearold baseball design, which has been tweaked to make it more appropriate for basketball.

The 2020-21 Contenders Optic Basketball checklist has a large number of additional inserts as well. These include:

• All-Star Aspirations

• Hoop Dream

• Lottery Ticket

• Pick N Roll

• Playing the Numbers Game

• Suite Shots

• Superstars Die-Cuts

• Team Tandems

• Uniformity

Inserts have Red Cracked Ice and Blue Cracked Ice parallels.