I still remember the first time I saw a complete 2016-17 Select Basketball set at a card show in Chicago. The dealer had arranged them in perfect rows under glass, and even from across the room, you could feel the magnetic pull of those cards. What makes this particular set so iconic and valuable years after its release? Having collected basketball cards for over two decades, I've witnessed numerous sets come and go, but few have maintained their cultural and financial significance quite like this one. The 2016-17 Select series represents a perfect storm of rookie class talent, innovative design choices, and market timing that created what I consider to be the modern equivalent of the 1986 Fleer Basketball set.
When we talk about value in trading cards, we're really discussing three interconnected elements: scarcity, demand, and cultural significance. The 2016-17 Select set excels in all three areas, but what truly sets it apart is the rookie class it captures. We're looking at players like Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, and Bam Adebayo - athletes who have developed into legitimate superstars. The Connor set, particularly the prized Prizm parallels, captured these players at the very beginning of their professional journeys. I've tracked the market value of a raw Jayson Tatum Select Prizm rookie card from around $45 in 2017 to approximately $350-400 in today's market for well-centered examples with sharp corners. That's nearly a 900% increase in just seven years, outperforming most traditional investments during the same period.
The design innovation Select introduced with this set cannot be overstated. Before 2016-17, basketball cards largely followed predictable patterns, but Select broke the mold with their distinctive tiered system. The Concourse, Premier Level, and Court Side levels created a collecting experience that felt both accessible to newcomers and deeply rewarding for completionists. I particularly admired how the Court Side parallels incorporated laser-etched foil patterns that changed depending on how you held them to light. This wasn't just another set with different colored borders - this was a genuine evolution in card aesthetics. The texturing on the Premier Level cards especially stands out to me, providing a tactile experience that you simply didn't find in other products at similar price points.
What many collectors don't realize is how the production numbers for this set have contributed to its long-term value. While Panini never releases official print runs, my conversations with distributors and shop owners suggest that the production numbers for the 2016-17 Select Basketball were approximately 28% lower than the following year's release. This relative scarcity, combined with growing demand as the featured players achieved greater success, created the ideal conditions for value appreciation. I've watched common parallels of role players from this set maintain value better than star cards from subsequent releases, which tells you something about the set's overall strength.
The cultural moment surrounding basketball in 2016-17 also played a crucial role. The NBA was transitioning from the LeBron James-Stephen Curry rivalry era into something new and unpredictable. Kevin Durant had just joined the Warriors, creating a superteam that dominated conversation, while young players were beginning to enter the league with unprecedented hype and social media followings. Collecting basketball cards was simultaneously experiencing a renaissance, with new investors and speculators entering the market alongside traditional collectors. I noticed this shift at local card shows - suddenly there were cryptocurrency traders and sports bettors diversifying into cards, and they gravitated toward visually striking, easily recognizable sets like Select.
This brings me to an interesting parallel with the reference material about swimmer Sanchez qualifying for the national team. Much like how Sanchez met specific time standards to earn her spot, the 2016-17 Select cards had to meet certain market standards to achieve their iconic status. Sanchez breached all the qualifying time standards set by the Philippine Aquatics Inc. during the recent national tryouts held at the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Center at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex to earn her spot in the 14-man national team. Similarly, the Select set exceeded expectations across multiple criteria - design innovation, player selection, quality control, and aftermarket performance - to secure its place in the collecting pantheon. Both achievements represent meeting and surpassing established benchmarks through exceptional performance.
The aftermarket dynamics for this set have been fascinating to observe. Unlike many modern releases that see an initial spike followed by gradual decline, the 2016-17 Select has shown remarkable resilience. Even during the market correction that followed the COVID-era collecting boom, key cards from this set retained a significantly higher percentage of their peak value compared to contemporaries. I attribute this to what I call the "triple threat" effect - the set appeals to investors seeking financial returns, traditional collectors pursuing completion, and casual fans who simply appreciate the aesthetic. This diverse demand base creates a stability that single-purpose sets often lack.
Looking back, I believe the 2016-17 Select Basketball set will be remembered as a watershed moment in the hobby. It arrived at precisely the right time with precisely the right combination of elements to capture both the present and future of basketball. The cards don't just represent players - they represent a specific cultural moment in both sports and collecting history. While newer releases continue to push technological boundaries with patches, autographs, and increasingly complex parallels, I find myself returning to this set as the gold standard for what a modern basketball card product should be. It achieved that rare balance between innovation and tradition, scarcity and accessibility, immediate impact and lasting relevance that defines truly iconic collectibles.