10 minutes
Share"NBA Top Shot is a new way for fans to connect with their favorite teams and players, while also providing a unique investment opportunity." - Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs
What is NBA Top Shot?
NBA Top Shot NFTs are a unique blockchain-based virtual trading card platform, created in partnership between the NBA, NBA Players Association, and Dapper Labs. The platform is built on the FLOW blockchain, which is designed to support the next generation of games, apps, and digital assets.
Unlike traditional trading cards, NBA Top Shot NFTs combine NBA highlights with digital art, creating video highlights called Moments. Each Moment is attached to an NFT with a unique digital serial number, ensuring its authenticity and indicating its rarity. These Moments are the building blocks of the NBA Top Shot ecosystem.
Here are some interesting facts:
- In February 2021, a LeBron James NBA Top Shot Moment sold for $208,000, making it the most expensive NBA Top Shot Moment to date.
- In its first year, NBA Top Shot generated over $700 million in sales.
- NBA Top Shot has plans to expand its offerings beyond just basketball, with plans to potentially include other sports, entertainment, and even art.
How does NBA Top Shot work?
Moments are created in Packs, which are part of a Series that runs parallel to the NBA season. Every week or so, new digital packs of NFT Moments are released that showcase the most significant plays of the season. However, NBA Top Shot also offers retroactive Moments, allowing legacy fans to own their favourite plays from the past, such as Michael Carter-Williams’ 2013 dunk.
NBA Top Shot aims to provide a gamified experience for fans. Users can participate in Top Shot challenges and compete for prizes, Moments, and scarce packs. For example, in one challenge, users had to submit 12 specific series-3 metallic silver fandom edition Moments to receive a Series 3 2022 All-Star Standard pack.
What are NBA Top Shot Moments?
NBA Top Shot offers a variety of rare and highly sought-after NFT Moments that feature iconic plays from NBA games, minted on the FLOW blockchain. The Moments are categorized into four distinct groups: Common, Fandom, Rare, and Legendary. Additionally, the Ultimate rarity class is reserved for Moments that are sold through auction, with only one or three editions available.
- Common Moments make up 96.6% of all NBA Top Shot Moments, with the largest edition sizes and intended to be shared among fans worldwide. They are easy to obtain, and there are thousands of them in circulation, such as Carmelo Anthony's three-pointer. Despite being the most common Moments, some can still hold significant value, such as the Fred VanVleet three-pointer, which sold for $140,190.
- Fandom Moments have no set percentage and are based on unique experiences or events, such as a Moment available exclusively to fans attending a live game. For example, the Killian Hayes Assist has only 2,776 editions, and they were only available to fans at the arena.
- Rare Moments account for 2.25% of all NBA Top Shot Moments, featuring historic plays from NBA legends, such as Trae Young's shoulder shimmy three-pointer. There are only 750 editions of this Moment in circulation.
- Legendary Moments are the rarest and most exclusive class of Moments, making up only 0.11% of all NBA Top Shot Moments. These Moments are extremely difficult to obtain, such as the Giannis Antetokounmpo block in the NBA Finals, with only 120 editions available.
The most expensive NBA Top Shot NFT sales
As of January 2021, NBA Top Shot saw a surge in sales after record-setting purchases of Moments. FantasyLabs co-founders Jonathan Bales and Peter Jennings bought a Ja Morant Moment for $35,000, while SnapBack Sports founder Jack Settleman purchased a LeBron James Legendary “Kobe Tribute” dunk Moment for $47,500. Not to be outdone, tech investor Jeremy Levine bought the #1 Zion Holo Moment for $100,000. However, the highest-selling Moment to date was a LeBron James dunk during the 2020 NBA Finals, which sold for an astounding $387,600 in April 2021. Despite a dip in the value of Top Shot Moments, the LeBron clip still holds significant value, currently valued at $230,023.
Summary:
NBA Top Shots is a unique blockchain-based way for fans to have the opportunity to invest in an asset associated with their favourite team, while also being a part of unique experiences and emotions.
If you're a basketball fan and have always wanted to get involved in an extra activity, it's never too late, maybe you're watching the next legendary moment that will become an NBA Top Shot live right now.