2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball Behind the Design

Get Up Close to 2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball

When the Topps Basketball design team began their work on 2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball, they were not just imagining a card set. They were shaping an experience with deep roots in one of the most celebrated decades in sports card history.

Finest debuted in 1993, and its mid-’90s basketball inserts remain among the most collectible Topps has ever produced. In 2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball, the goal was to channel that legacy while transporting collectors into the 1990s, a decade defined by bright colors, bold patterns, and an unapologetic sense of style — then bring them back to the present with a sharper, elevated edge.

Designing 2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball

The base card design serves as the foundation for everything else. “It’s supposed to be three-dimensional, polygonal shapes,” Topps Art Director Aaron Masik explains. “Something that was in its lineage before, then putting our spin on it. Very ’90s-inspired.” Those shapes gave the cards depth and texture, echoing the product’s heritage while delivering a refreshed identity.

For graphic designer Preston Linzy II, the insert sets were where the creative process truly came alive. His favorite is Finest Autographs.

“We took inspiration from ’90s t-shirts, using the chromed-out letters and adding smoke” Linzy II explains. “The autograph area is smoky. It was a fun thing to do.” Another standout is Debut, which taps into a familiar visual memory bank. “We got to do some cool stuff with the ’90s cup, and the inspiration for that was older sports magazines. The magazine-inspired stuff was synonymous with growing up in the ’90s. The teal and purple felt very ’90s.”

Throughout the process, the team balanced the decade’s imagery with a structure that would resonate across generations. “We made it a step-by-step process from common to rare,” Linzy II explains. “Just tying in pieces from the ’90s and allowing that clarity to exist.”

Masik shared that priority: “You can immediately recognize what you have. We are not hiding it behind elements or certain spots. You know when you hit something in this set because it is there in front of you. It is very in your face.”

The Finest Basketball Process

The work came with its challenges. “Some of the stuff in the ’90s does not hold up to today’s era of design,” Linzy II explains. “The challenge was taking what you see in the ’90s and building something on top of that. The question was, ‘How do you take something that was so dominant from that era and push it into a new era?’”

For him, that meant leaning into nostalgia while refining it, finding moments that felt authentic and amplifying them. “When we finished Finishers, it looked like a Mortal Kombat-style game. We wanted to play up the whole nostalgia vibe.”

For Masik, the mission was about both honoring and advancing the legacy. “We put a different spin on it altogether,” he says. “We raised the legacy of it, setting a new standard. Like, can we match that or surpass it next season.” That forward-looking mentality gives this year’s set its energy, acknowledging the past while laying the groundwork for what is next.

Nostalgia is at the Core of 2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball

Though the 1990s served as the anchor, the team’s research reached further, pulling in influences from the 1980s and early 2000s to create a visual identity that feels both nostalgic and timeless. As Masik puts it, “Finest is an encapsulation of the finest eras of the sport. This year, we drew inspiration from the ’90s, but also tapped into the ’80s and 2000s for ideas. There’s always a different finest era for sports, and you can always have those debates.”

2024/25 Topps Finest Basketball is a conversation starter, a bridge between generations, and a reminder that some design languages never stop speaking. They simply find new ways to be heard.

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