1993-94 Hoops

In 1993-94, NBA Hoops was still finding their footing and consolidating after that enormous (and overprinted) ’91-92 set. They went from about 600 cards in ’91-92, to about 500 the next season and now, here in ’93-94 we’re at 421 cards. I think of it more as a set plus an update instead of a Series I and Series II. Series I was cards #1-300 while Series II was a much smaller 120 cards. Subsets in ’93-94 consolidated as well, now only four, and all simply recap the previous season. An important note about the number of cards in the set though! In addition to the number of cards being in flux, the design was in flux as well. This is the first season that we have a borderless, full-bleed photo on the front. The basketball court key from 1989-90 and ’90-91 gave way to a more conventional border for two seasons, and now the border is gone entirely.

Number of Cards Controversy: Some professional publications, the 2001 Standard Catalog of Basketball Cards for example, argue that the Magic/Bird commemorative card and the Hoops Scoops inserts should’ve been numbered as part of the regular set since they appear at the same rate as the other cards. They say that this was an error on the part of Hoops that was never corrected. This would bring the total cards in the set to an even 450.

The cards are still alphabetized by team and name. The backs of these Hoops cards are very conventional ,but they contain full college and professional stats for those that like to see the complete numbers. Overall, a junk wax card that’s still really fun!

Individual Cards: