CGC Cards Registry Featured Set: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA
Posted on 8/13/2026
In recent years, the WNBA has been revitalized with a new crop of elite young talent that has helped gain traction for the league like never before. Viewership, ticket sales, merchandise sales, player contracts, and more have all increased because of the interest in the league. As the WNBA continues to grow and grabs the attention of more and more fans, the league is also making waves in the sports card community.
Although the WNBA debuted in the summer of 1997, card makers did not consistently produce sets for the women's players. For the first couple of seasons, Pinnacle held the WNBA licensing rights for cards until the company went bankrupt. The licensing was then bought by Fleer/Skybox, which lasted until the mid-2000s, when Rittenhouse took over for the next 13 years. For those first two decades of the league, WNBA cards were often an afterthought in the hobby, but that changed when Panini came into play in 2019.
Panini capitalized on increased interest in the league and implemented some of the company's most popular sets for their new WNBA lines. In 2020, Panini released its first-ever Prizm WNBA set, becoming the flagship WNBA set and dominating collector demand, making it the most popular annual WNBA series in the hobby to this day.
As the 2026 WNBA season continues, CGC is revisiting one of these sets through a CGC Cards Registry user's impressive collection of 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA cards. CGC Cards Registry set owner rjr2167's top-ranked 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA set showcases more than 100 cards, completing an impressive 70% of the total set. The Registry set boasts 35 cards graded CGC Gem Mint 10 and also includes five coveted cards that earned the grade of CGC Pristine 10. In addition, the collection is not only a top-ranked set, but it recently earned the CGC Cards Registry Best Set of the Year award.
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| 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #25 A'ja Wilson graded CGC Gem Mint 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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2023 Panini Prizm WNBA marked the fourth annual series to be released of the popular chromium cards. Same as other Panini Prizm card sets, the 2023 series showcased WNBA veterans, All-Stars, rookies, and retired legends on shiny cards that also came in colorful parallels, alongside special inserts and autographed rarities. In fact, every hobby box included 10 additional inserts, 12 parallels, and two guaranteed autographs.
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| LEFT: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #17 Breanna Stewart graded CGC 8 RIGHT: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #32 Sue Bird graded CGC 9 Click images to enlarge. |
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The front of 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA cards feature a full chrome design, with a border design that cleanly separates an action shot of the athlete in the center from the outer edge. This mirrors the design of other Panini Prizm sets of the last year, including the 2022 Panini Prizm Football (NFL) and 2022-23 Panini Prizm Basketball (NBA) sets. A Prizm brand logo at the top of the border and player name and team at the bottom of the border round out the front.
The back of the cards share an almost identical design to the front, except for a more subtle non-chrome finish. The lines of the border stay the same but are overlayed on a white background. A cropped picture of the same player image from the front is used on the back, with the card number and player's name at the top. Below the image is a short player bio and the player's recent statistics.
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| LEFT: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #38 Nneka Ogwumike graded CGC Gem Mint 10 RIGHT: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #50 Sabrina Ionescu graded CGC 9 Click images to enlarge. |
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The 150-card base set is full of WNBA stars of their day and some young up-and-comers who are now league leaders. Superstars at the time of release like #11 Elena Delle Donne, #17 Breanna Stewart, #25 A'ja Wilson, #38 Nneka Ogwumike, #57 Brittney Griner, #77 Candace Parker, #129 Diana Taurasi and many more veterans are among the names on the checklist.
Other cards showcased in the set are retired legends, including #32 Sue Bird, #39 Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, #100 Sheryl Swoopes, #114 Lisa Leslie, #125 Becky Hammon, and others. Some of the young stars to have early cards in this set include #50 Sabrina Ionescu and the #133 Aliyah Boston rookie card.
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| LEFT: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #130 Skylar Diggins-Smith graded CGC Gem Mint 10 RIGHT: 2023 Panini Prizm WNBA #133 Aliyah Boston graded CGC Gem Mint 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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As the WNBA continues to grow and collectors tune in more to WNBA products, women's basketball cards are at an all-time high. With young elite players entering the league like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Olivia Miles among others, the sport and their players are being taken to the next level, which is evident in numerous record-breaking WNBA card sales over the last couple of years. The WNBA is riding a wave of momentum on the court and off the court, as women's basketball cards are no longer on the fringe of the hobby. Instead, they are now an annual staple.
About CGC
Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games, and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs, and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation, and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray, and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.
CGC is part of the Certified Collectibles Group, a global provider of expert and impartial authentication and grading services for collectibles. Since 1987, the Certified Collectibles Group companies have certified more than 110 million collectibles, including coins, banknotes, comic books, cards, autographs, and stamps.
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