Big news in the hobby on Tuesday as long-time licensees Topps and Upper Deck were bounced out of the Basketball card market in favor of Italian-based The Panini Group.

The NBA has signed a multi-year, exclusive licensing agreement with The Panini Group, known best as a publisher of sticker products and comic books overseas. The company, headquartered in Modena, Italy, will create a new subsidiary known as Panini America to handle its domestic trading card business.

The deal has been highly scrutinized by collectors, with many under the false impression that both of the card companies are out of the card making business altogether while others are concerned what will happen to each of the company's exclusive deals with some of the game's top players.

Stayed tuned right here to the 7th Inning Stretch blog and www.tuffstuff.com in general for future updates on this story. Until then, post a comment and let us know what your thoughts are concerning the big news.