My Top Five Favorite Hits from NBA Box Breaks in 2021

I started collecting NBA Cards again in 2021 and a lot has changed in the hobby since I was last in it a long time ago.

Before writing more about the hobby, I’ll first share my top five favorite hits from the NBA box breaks I joined last year:

5. Precious Achiuwa, Recon Rookie Private Signings, Icon and Association Versions (from Lucky Box Breaks PH)

Photo from Lucky Box Breaks PH.

I’ve been picking Miami in Recon box breaks because of a particular autograph card I’m after, which I sadly haven’t gotten until now. The first time I joined Lucky Box Breaks PH, it was for a Recon Case Break – 12 boxes!

I got a lot of hits during that break – including a green parallel of a Bam Adebayo Rock The Rim insert (1/5). But I’m choosing these two because they are rookie on-card autographs and I got the pair in one break.

4. Payton Pritchard, Donruss Optic Rated Rookie, Checkerboard (from Bear Breaks PH)

Photo from Bear Breaks PH.

This was my third checkerboard – a super short print (SSP) parallel exclusive to retail packs. The first one I was also from Bear Breaks PH (CJ Elleby) while the second one was from a cello pack I bought off Shopee (Serge Ibaka). I guess a Payton Pritchard Rated Rookie card is the best one to have among the three of them.

That break was my first time picking the Boston Celtics. After getting a number of My House inserts, I decided to collect them all which meant I needed to pick the Celtics in order to get the one for Jayson Tatum. While I didn’t get the card that I was after, I did get something even better.

3. Richard Hamilton, Flux Equinox, Red Scope FOTL – 1/1 (from Hobbies and Show)

Photo from Hobbies and Show.

I have mixed feelings about the Flux set. I don’t like the unnatural color grading of the base cards that much, and I also don’t have that much luck in the set either. The first time I joined a break with a Flux box, I didn’t get a single Flux card. In another one, I didn’t get anything good. Fortunately both breaks had other boxes so I still got some hits.

Aside from the cards in the packs, each Flux Hobby Box contains an encased card, which you won’t be able to get in the packs and is inside a sealed magnetic case. This break had two Flux Hobby boxes, with one of them being a First Of The Line (FOTL) one, so there were two encased cards.

Getting one of the two was was already good enough for me, but it ended up being a Rip Hamilton autograph card. Even better, it was a FOTL exclusive 1/1 parallel!

2. Tyrese Haliburton, Donruss Optic, Pink – 24/25 (from Cardboard Chuck)

Photo from Cardboard Chuck.

I rarely choose the Sacramento Kings in box breaks, but I got them via Team Random (TR) on this one.

What I really wanted were the cello-exclusive blue velocity parallels (because those look really good!) but I instead got a pink parallel. I wasn’t too excited about it at first (I still like how the blue velocities look more), until I found out it’s a numbered card, out of 25!

It was my first Optic pink parallel, and also Cardboard Chuck’s first time to pull one, so this was definitely a memorable break. The Optic cellos also became one of my favorites box breaks last year.

1. Isaiah Stewart, Recon Platinum – 1/1 (from TheMonYu Epal Breaks)

Photo from TheMonYu Epal Breaks.

Aside from Miami, the Detroit Pistons was one of the teams I’ve been collecting. With four rookies, three of which in the top 20 of the draft, there was a good chance of getting a good rookie hit.

Saddiq Bey (19th pick) is the best of them but Isaiah Stewart (17th pick) is showing some promise and people are still looking for Killian Hayes (7th pick) to show his potential after getting injured during his rookie year. Saben Lee (38th pick) rounds up the four.

When this Isaiah Stewart got pulled, I got excited thinking it was the usual blue parallel which is numbered out of 99. But after the camera zoomed in on the “1 of 1” written in the card, I realized it was something else: my first 1/1 and my hit favorite for 2021.

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Decided to write this after watching Box Breaks with Ya Boyyyy!‘s Top Five Cards of 2021. Check that video out here and subscribe to his Youtube channel here.

// By Francis Abad

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