It’s the start of NBA All Star Weekend. And if you can’t feel the excitement in the spectator-less, silent arena, at least you can snuggle up close to a digital representation of a basketball.
Bleacher Report (B/R), one of the most popular sports news sites in the world, is getting into the NFT game. In conjunction with NBA All Star Weekend, B/R is auctioning off digital basketballs minted by four prominent hip hop artists: 2 Chainz, Jack Harlow, Lil Baby, and Quavo.
We collabed with the artists to create a custom basketball for each one for Saturday night 🔥
You can own one yourself with B/R’s first-ever NFT drop on March 6 👀
Each artist’s basketball features a unique design—Jack Harlow’s has a curly-haired shark, Quavo’s turns a dollar bill into a blinged-out bird, and 2 Chainz’s ball shows angels holding up...well...two chains.
Ten Gold Editions of each NFT basketball will be auctioned off on NFT marketplace OpenSea from Friday evening at 5 pm Eastern, with a new ball auctioned off every 30 minutes. Successful bidders receive a matching set of the digital collectible and a physical ball.
A 2 Chainz NFT. Image: B/R
If you don’t need the actual basketball and prefer your collectibles to come only in a digital format that will have your friends and family, saying, “What?” you can buy the Silver Edition NFTs. There are 150 of each rapper’s digital basketball, which go on sale at 12 PM Eastern on Saturday for 0.4 ETH ($610). Each is available on a first-come, first-serve basis, but can be re-sold. It’s unclear how much goes to the artist and B/R, but OpenSea usually takes 2.5% of each sale.
Non-fungible tokens, which almost roll off the tongue like a Steph Curry layup rolls off the fingers, are a type of digital collectible whose authenticity and ownership can be tracked via a blockchain. Owners can sell them just like they’d sell other sports memorabilia.
Over the past month, the top five biggest non-fungible token (NFTs) projects generated over $366 million in sales, with NBA Top Shots being responsible for the lion’s share of that figure, according to metrics platform CryptoSlam. But while Top Shots took the majority of the volume, its biggest sales were dwarfed by one of Ethereum's earliest NFT projects.
The biggest crypto collectible sale last month (excluding one-off NFT sales), was $1.545 million—paid in cryptocurrency—for the CryptoPunk ca...
They’ve exploded in popularity in recent weeks, with musical artists like Kings of Leon releasing an album in the format, someone burning a piece of art from street artist Banksy and selling that video, and even Paris Hilton popping up to chat about them in audio-only social network Clubhouse.
But the NFT market for professional basketball collectibles is dominating. NBA Top Shot, which creates digital trading cards using ESPN-ready highlight videos, was responsible for $225 million in trading volume in February. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is a big, big fan.
NBA Top Shot will have more money coming in, as well. In lieu of an actual Rising Stars game, featuring rookie and second-year, Top Shot partnered with the league to release NFT trading cards of the players who made the roster.
The NBA: Sometimes it’s more than just a game.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
NFT Revolution
NFTs are provably unique crypto tokens that are quickly becoming increasingly popular among digital artists, gaming companies, and investors. Track the NFT revolution here.
Long-running Ethereum NFT collection Chimpers is expanding its footprint, teaming with IP incubator 223 to produce physical collectibles, starting with a plush keychain blind box collection featuring the cartoonish Chimpers characters.
The brand, which has amassed millions of followers across social media platforms, will sell its Series 1 collectible exclusively through 223’s online marketplace, with plans to expand into retail in the future.
“We’ve built a following of over 1.8 million, but t...
Game industry veteran John Smedley—who helped bring games like EverQuest, H1Z1, and Planetside to life as president of Sony Online Entertainment (later Daybreak Game Company)—is back with a new studio, Distinct Possibility Studios, and a blockchain-powered debut first-person shooter called Reaper Actual.
And while blockchain games have typically found a muted or hostile response from traditional gamers, Smedley believes his game could bring in “millions and millions” of players due to the shoote...
Scor on Sweet, a Telegram mini-app ecosystem, has launched a clone of the classic mobile game Flappy Bird—but this time with a tennis twist, featuring stars of the real-world game. Flappy Racquet arrives as the sport’s most prestigious Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, is just getting into full swing.
The game appears simple: tap on the screen to hit tennis balls away and avoid drones as your character flies through the sky. Miss a ball, and your progress is reset.
Top players will be rewarded...