Exquisite Basketball has one of the richest histories in the entire hobby, especially as the first super high end product to ever be sold mainstream. The cards have consistently been some of the best designed and the best produced in all of sports, and collectors live and die by it. When Upper Deck lost its basketball license, Exquisite stopped being produced, much to the dismay of many of the hobby’s biggest collectors. Panini tried to replace it with National Treasures basketball, but that is like replacing a Ferrari with a Lexus. Sure, they are both Luxurious, but in no way are they comparable in what they bring.

Here are some ridiculous ones from years past:

08-09 Exquisite Michael Jordan Jumbo 4 Color Patch Auto

09-10 Exquisite Michael Jordan / LeBron James Dual Patch Auto

04-05 Exquisite Kobe Bryant Jumbo Logo Patch Auto

08-09 Exquisite Kevin Durant Jumbo Patch Auto

Upper Deck just released solicitation for the new Exquisite release, and after a MAJOR success in football, this was definitely warranted. It looks to be very similarly composed, which is a great thing, including the Dimensions Shadowbox cards that many collectors (including mystelf) have absolutely loved. The design of the cards they previewed looks to be on the normal level of an Upper Deck product, and with the way college basketball is followed in this country, it might carry more weight as a product than it would in other sports.

According to Gregg Kohn’s twitter account, there will be a HUGE auto hit in every box, either Jordan, Magic, LeBron, Russell, Bird or Dr J, and he mentioned that there will even be a promise of a Jordan auto per case. At that rate, there could be a greatly diminished value to these autos, especially Jordan, but I don’t think anyone would argue with that promise.

Its pretty obvious that Panini never could, nor ever would be able to produce a product like this, and I sincerely wish that the NBA comes to their senses with the best in the business over at UD. In football, its one thing, there is competition, but in basketball, there is none – as UD has been smashing Panini left and right without a license. This is further proof.

Sorry, forgot to add the pics!