Panini America Inks Exclusive Trading Card Agreements With Five Top Picks In Advance Of Thursday's 2015 NBA Draft

IRVING, Texas, June 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Panini America (www.paniniamerica.net), the world's largest sports and entertainment collectibles company and the exclusive trading card partner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced today that it has reached exclusive trading card agreements with five projected first-round picks in advance of Thursday's 2015 NBA Draft: Jahlil Okafor (Duke), Karl-Anthony Towns (Kentucky), Emmanuel Mudiay (China), D'Angelo Russell (Ohio State) and Jerian Grant (Notre Dame).

The new agreements grant Panini America exclusive rights to produce NBA Rookie Cards, autographed trading cards and collegiate trading cards of these future NBA stars. The first Rookie Cards and autographs of the 2015 Draft class will arrive in the October release of Panini America's 2015-16 NBA Hoops product, which carries a $1.99 retail pack price point.

In addition to the five exclusive agreements, Panini America has also signed more than 50 additional NBA Draft prospects to trading card and autograph agreements for the 2015-16 season.

"The NBA Draft is always a key time for us at Panini America because it signifies the official start to a new season – and the grand introduction of the NBA's next wave of superstars," said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. "Many of the players selected Thursday night – including the five newest exclusive members of the Panini America family – will be driving forces for our licensed trading card products for years to come; and that's just as exciting for fans and collectors as it is for us."

During Thursday night's 2015 NBA Draft, Panini America will be unveiling the first NBA Rookie Cards of this year's picks in real time on the company's Twitter and Instagram accounts using #HoopsRookie. You can follow along at https://twitter.com/PaniniAmerica and at https://instagram.com/PaniniAmerica. 

Panini America is the only company in the world that manufactures licensed trading cards and stickers for the NBA, NFL, NFLPA, MLBPA, and FIFA as well as Collegiate trading cards. The company also has exclusive relationships with USA Baseball, USA Basketball and U.S. Soccer.  In addition, Panini also has relationships with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and owns exclusive entertainment licenses with Disney and more than 600 global licenses with other sports and entertainment properties.

ABOUT PANINI:
The Panini Group, established more than 50 years ago in Modena, Italy, has subsidiaries throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States. Panini is the world leader in officially licensed collectibles and is the most significant publisher of collectibles in the U.S., with official licenses for MLBPA, NBA, NFL, NFL Players Inc., NHL, FIFA, USA Baseball, Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Collegiate trading cards and other key properties from many other licensors. Panini has distribution channels in more than 100 countries and employs a staff of over 800. For more information visit us at www.paniniamerica.net, www.paninigroup.com or www.paniniamerica.wordpress.com. You can also follow Panini America on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and on YouTube.

Media Contact:
Tracy Hackler, Panini America
214-552-3475
[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150625/225723

SOURCE Panini America

Related Links

http://www.paniniamerica.net

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