Product preview: 2009-10 Panini Studio basketball cards

Panini America released the basic information and preview images on Friday for its 2009-10 Panini Studio basketball card set, which uses the name of the famed Donruss line of the early 1990s but appears to stand on its own with a new look and design from the NBA’s exclusive licensee for basketball cards.

Scheduled to release on Feb. 24, Studio will pack four autograph and memorabilia cards per 24-pack ($4 per pack) hobby box as well as eight rookies, six legends cards, two Bronze Studio proofs, one Silver proof, three Masterstrokes cards as well as 14 other inserts.

Every 12-box case will include an autograph from one of the following players — Panini spokesman Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, Elvin Hayes, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson or No. 1 overall draft pick Blake Griffin.

See a full selection of images after the jump.

Bryant’s cards promise to be signed without the use of stickers, while another selling point are Printing Plate cards, which aren’t done as much with Panini products compared to other companies.

Also among the inserts are dual Team Studio memorabilia cards (15 cards), Proofs autographs (150 cards), Masterstrokes autographs (20 cards), Skylines (30 cards), Studio Heritage (30 cards).

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Graded Card Investor. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.