Steiner Sports has landed the biggest rookie in New York these days for an exclusive autograph deal.

The rookie is Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis.

"It quickly became apparent that Kristaps is on to something special in New York," said Steiner Sports CEO Brandon Steiner in an announcement on Thursday. "He is mature beyond his years and a true talent on the court. Steiner Sports has held a valued memorabilia partnership with Madison Square Garden since 2010 and we are looking forward to seeing Kristaps' growth at The World's Most Famous Arena as a member of the Steiner Sports family."

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Just for fun with this one -- Lil' Stephen Curry starring in his dad's Burger King commercials.

Way back in 1999, Elton Brand was a star center for the Duke Blue Devils -- a center from tiny Peekskill, N.Y., who was about to make a big impression as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

Fast-forward to today and the former Chicago Bull is coming out of retirement to join the NBA's worst team -- the Philadelphia 76ers, owners of a 3-33 record -- to help mentor another former Blue Devils star and first-round pick, Jahlil Okafor. Okafor, of course, has had issues off the court this season while also picking up the NBA game quickly. It's a match made in Blue Devils collecting heaven.

"He's not unlike most 20-year-olds you probably know, and he's definitely not at all different than most of his fellow players," Brand wrote in a piece for Sports Illustrated's website. "... if camera phones were around when Brad Miller, Ron Artest and I were Jahlil's age, we might've been banned from the league altogether, never mind suspended for a few games."

So, what about Brand on cardboard?

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Panini America starts off the new year with not one but four new products scheduled to arrive this week -- from four different sports, too. Meanwhile, there's only one other brand on the calendar.

The biggest for most collectors is the arrival of 2015 Panini Contenders football cards with the annual chase for the Rookie Ticket autographs one that's been a mainstay for years. Which ones will be short-prints? Which ones are variations and which ones aren't? We'll find out more beginning Wednesday. Each box includes at least five autographs -- and it looks like some of them might be coaches who have never signed before. Will those be short-prints? Should be interesting to watch.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Contenders variations, game-dated Relic confusion, signing 1/1 cards & more

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It's a time of change, a time of high-end product exploration and a time of options for many collectors in what we call the sports card industry these days.

Tastes, products and prices continue to evolve as does the business environment that helps bring us our cardboard. For every super-pricey box being made, there are seemingly just as many buyers ready to rip or pick off singles for not-always-so-super prices (but super bargains).

The Buzz has only been around for part of 2015, but Buzz has been here all along as part of the world of collecting. Here are Buzz's picks for 15 cards that helped define 2015.

2015-16 Upper Deck #201 Connor McDavid RC
The impressive prices being paid for what's just a simple piece of cardboard with just gloss and some foil stamping shows that fundamentals never go out of style when there's a big name involved. This time, it's the No. 1 pick Connor McDavid, a Canadian phenom drafted by the Edmonton Oilers. This photo was selected by collectors and it even has a fun sign of 2015 -- the fan showing off a photo on her phone in the background.

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When Topps Chrome arrived in basketball, it was a bit simpler time than it is today -- so much so that the brand was a retail-only release because the idea of merely Chroming a set perhaps wasn't a sure thing.

Plenty of time has passed since 1996 and in that time so has the career of Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant who was a rookie back in 1996-97 Topps Chrome.

The best card in that landmark product is arguably Bryant's Refractor version of his Rookie Card and this copy is the best of the best of the thousands that were pulled and saved since then.

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Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

For the first grading diary here on The Buzz, it will be a mix of cards graded for a few reasons.

The Card: 1993 Upper Deck #449 Derek Jeter
The Reason Graded: This was pulled straight from an underpriced factory set and looked very clean except for a tiny spot on the back -- Buzz figured it might push into the high grades even with the gloss issue. These cards are also not easy to pull from wax or sets cleanly because the high-gloss cards often stick together, peeling away specks of paper. Another reason? This is an iconic card that's worth grading if you own a clean one.
The Grade: BGS 9

Reality Check: The SP Jeter rookie is the one people chase, not this one. This one's $20 on eBay -- and perhaps undervalued considering how they grade on the pop report. BGS 9s and higher are really much rarer than people think.

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What: 2016 Leaf Best of Basketball
Arrives: February 2016
Box basics: One buyback or redemption card plus one new Leaf card per box.

What's buzz-worthy: The elite basketball cards from the past will be found here in buyback form accented with new creations featuring Hall of Fame-enshrined players.

Keep reading for more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: High-end brands like Panini Immaculate and Panini Eminence, keeping vs. flipping, Chris Bosh's Hall of Fame chances and golf greats find a spot in this one.

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What: 2015-16 Panini Select basketball cards
Arrives: March 3, 2016
Box basics: Three autographs or memorabilia cards per 12-pack box

What's buzz-worthy: Select returns for another season with on-card autographs and prime memorabilia pieces along with a rainbow of Prizmatic color and insert sets featuring the NBA's top stars and top rookies all in three types of base sets.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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What: 2015-16 Donruss basketball cards
Arrives: February 2016
Box basics: Three autograph or memorabilia cards per 24-pack box

What's buzz-worthy: The wave of retro-styled modern Donruss cards returns to the NBA and, just like its baseball counterpart, it includes plenty of inserts, plenty of base cards and more hits than the typical lower-end brand. This year's release also will be more limited than last season.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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From time to time, we'll highlight some crazy pulls from breaks done via BlowoutTV -- you know, the stuff that's truly buzz-worthy. 

Just pulled: A 2014-15 Panini Eminence Stephen Curry championship tag auto 2/2
The box? It can be found right here.

Want to watch the entire video?

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The most-expensive box in Panini America history arrives on Wednesday in the form of 2014-15 Panini Eminence basketball cards.

It's a $5,900 box with as many as 10 cards inside -- all very limited and autographed.

Panini revealed the checklist for this one on Tuesday so we can all try to answer the million-dollar question ... just what's inside this one?

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Upper Deck has added Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love to its exclusive autographed memorabilia team that already includes another notable Cav.

The Kevin Love Collection will only be found via Upper Deck Authenticated and it will include limited art pieces as well as signed basketballs and jerseys.

“Kevin Love is a great addition to our ever-growing portfolio of basketball superstars,” said Upper Deck President Jason Masherah. “We are excited to bring fresh and innovative products to his fans in across the globe, and we look forward to introducing some exclusive multi-signed items featuring Love with other Upper Deck athletes in the future.”

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Hollywood's awards season is here with the nominees for the SAG and Golden Globes arriving this week and the inevitable chatter about who might get an Oscar nomination on Jan. 15 heating up online.

Good luck finding yourself Oscar cardboard, though, as cards showing Hollywood's biggest honor aren't all that common at all. In fact, they're downright scarce even though countless Oscar winners themselves have appeared on cards. (At right is a 2005 Topps Chronicles card Buzz bets most of you have never seen.)

Because of that, we're going with a different piece of awards cardboard above -- you all remember that one and its 2011 Topps American Pie card, right? -- as Buzz presents his picks for the top Oscars collectors need to know.

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Dolph Schayes, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the NBA's dominating scorers in its early years, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 87.

In 15 seasons mostly with the Syracuse Nationals, Schayes averaged 18.5 points and 12.1 rebounds a game after he was picked with the fourth pick of the 1948 BAA Draft. (The Basketball Association of America merged with the National Basketball League to form the NBA in 1949.)

As a 16-year-old freshman, Schayes led New York University to a Final Four appearance in 1945 and had an NBA championship by 1955. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973 and named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996.

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The most-expesnsive box of NBA cards ever is about a week away and Panini America took some time to tease a massive non-basketball inclusion in the brand that includes names well beyond the world of basketball.

One example? George Armstrong Custer who died at The Battle of the Little Bighorn back in 1876. Just think how much the world has changed since that time -- and then wonder aloud how many of his autographs could even still exist. And then what it might have cost to land the document.

Although many of the cut autograph sets made in the last decade or so aren't fully checklisted, it appears this is his first cut autograph -- and it will be found in a box of 2014-15 Panini Eminence basketball cards next week. (For trivia's sake we'll also mention here that basketball didn't exist until about 1891 -- just one of those many world changes since Custer.)

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A perfect copy of a basketball legend's Rookie Card reached legendary status on Saturday night in a sale via SCP Auctions.

The card is a PSA 10 1948 Bowman George Mikan Rookie Card, which is the only perfect copy in existence. It set what is believed to be a new record for a single basketball card with its sale.

The price?

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Stephen Curry is the reigning NBA MVP on the defending NBA champions who are 19-0 to begin the season.

What is there to say? Not much other than the NBA's win streak record is 33 set by the 1971-72 Lakers and that his Golden State Warriors ended last season with four wins -- so you do the math. We all know the NBA record for most wins in a regular season is 72 set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls -- so you do the math. Those are the bars that are set on the court -- and it sure seems like it's all or nothing is the expectation for the Warriors right now.

Those kinds of expectations are a good thing to have -- just like an autographed Curry Rookie Card these days.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

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If you're a regular Buzz reader, then you know a bit about 2014-15 Panini Eminence and how it will be the new high-end of all high-end releases when it arrives in just 15 days.

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After a rough start to his 20th season in the NBA, a 37-year-old Kobe Bryant confirmed in a Players Tribune essay published Sunday night that this year will be his last.

It's probably not a surprise to most NBA fans given his injuries in recent years, but an end to a career doesn't mean an end to cardboard, either. In fact, we're probably just getting started with this Panini America spokesman.

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Buzz is a collector who has to be selective -- can't collect everything but would want to -- so that's why a day like Black Friday can be important.

It's a way to try stuff I normally wouldn't or something I've always eyed but never done simply because the price is right.

Blowout's Black Friday Doorbusters have been revealed and there are some serious bargains to be found along with the previous waves of Black November discounts on other brands beyond these. Keep reading for my picks on the deals that would get my attention first.

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He might be the biggest thing going in The Big Apple right now -- and that makes him a big deal on cardboard.

His name is Kristaps Porzingis and he's playing so well for the New York Knicks right now that the team's marquee player, Carmelo Anthony, has already dubbed him the future of the franchise.

“He’s going to lead this organization long after I’m retired,” Anthony said in an SI.com story today. “Hopefully we can hoist one or two [championship trophies] before that happens.”

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