Due to the official branding made available by the National Basketball Association (NBA), NBA Top Shot has become one of the most recognizable names in the emerging industry of non-fundible tokens (NFTs).
This NFT platform allows NBA fans to purchase tokens that represent various moments in NBA history in a manner that is somewhat similar to traditional sports trading cards. According to Crypto Slam, NBA Top Shot is the most successful NFT collectible of all time, with more than $600 million in sales as of June 2021. Due to the familiarity with other forms of traditional sports memorabilia, NBA Top Shot has been able to carve out its own niche in the experimental realm of NFT markets.
NBA Top Shot Pros & Cons
Pros
- Uses the Flow blockchain, which has lower fees than Ethereum
- Does not require users to make payments via cryptocurrency
- Widely regarded as the most successful NFT collectible with a heavy emphasis on mainstream audience
- New drops available on a regular basis
Cons
- Limited support for cryptocurrencies
- NBA Top Shot is a completely custodial NFT platform
- Still in early stages of development and users must verify their identities
How to Buy NBA Top Shot NFTs
If you want to get started with NBA Top Shot, then the only option right now is the official NBA Top Shot platform.
On this official website, you will have the option of purchasing NBA Top Shot packs or purchasing a specific NBA Top Shot NFT on the secondary market from another user. Whether you’re looking for a specific NFT or you’d like to start ripping open your own packs, the first step you’ll need to take is creating an NBA Top Shot account. This process can be completed at NBATopShot.com by entering your email address or simply connecting the platform to your Google account.
You will also need to share some basic personal information about yourself such as your name, country, and date of birth. You will then need to confirm your unique identity by receiving a text message to your phone number and then entering the code from that message into the Dapper website. Next, you will be presented with a recovery code that will be necessary for you to use in a situation where you cannot login with your phone number.
This new account will work with other Dapper products, and not just NBA Top Shot. After you have completed all of these steps, you will then be able to purchase your first NBA Top Shot pack. A Starter Pack is available to those who are new to the platform for only $9. Additionally, you can begin searching the Marketplace for specific Moments you wish to purchase.
History of NBA Top Shot
NBA Top Shot is a young platform in the blockchain NFT space, as it only launched in October 2020 during the infamous “bubble” season amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
The platform was built by Dapper Labs, who are also the team behind the successful Cryptokitties project. No other NFT collectible set has been able to gain as much activity and attention as NBA Top Shot during its short time of existence.
Multiple NBA Top Shot NFTs have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but more importantly, the sales volume of these NFTs is greater than any other similar collectible on the market today, including CryptoPunks and Cryptokitties.
Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozious has claimed NBA Top Shot already has more than 1 million users. Due to the success the platform has achieved up to this point, it is likely the NBA will look into ways more ways to get involved in the NFT market.
Advantages of NBA Top Shot
The biggest advantages of NBA Top Shot have to do with its mainstream appeal. This is not a typical blockchain or cryptocurrency product that is difficult to use and understand.
The platform has been built from the bottom up with the average NBA fan in mind. For example, users don’t need to worry about cryptocurrencies at all if they’re interested in buying NBA Top Shot packs. In fact, the platform recommends users stick with credit cards and debit cards over the more confusing crypto-powered options.
Additionally, the Dapper Labs wallet used with this platform is completely custodial. While this removes the general ethos of decentralization found with the underlying value proposition of blockchain technology, the reality is making the platform custodial also improves the user experience and functionality for those who are not used to managing their own non-custodial crypto wallets.
It’s also notable that NBA Top Shot uses Flow instead of Ethereum as its blockchain of choice, as this will help keep fees low once the platform is opened up to a non-custodial structure. While some may view the use of a more centralized base blockchain and custodial wallet as sacrilegious in the crypto space, the reality is there is not much to gain when optimizing for decentralization in the NFT market.
The cherry on top in terms of mainstream appeal for NBA Top Shot is that this is an officially licensed product of the NBA. There is also an extremely active community that has blossomed around NBA Top Shot, and many of those users come from the traditional sports trading card ecosystem. The large number of new packs that are dropped on a regular basis also play a key role in keeping this community engaged with the product.
Disadvantages of NBA Top Shot
Despite the noteworthy success of NBA Top Shot from a mainstream adoption perspective, there are also some key disadvantages of this platform to consider. For one, NBA Top Shot is still relatively young, so there is a lack of general features that still need to be built out.
Although the NBA Top Shot Moments have been successful, users would like to see more variation in the types of cards available. For example, simple player NFTs that are more similar to traditional sports trading cards would be a welcomed addition. Blockchain purists will also not like that this platform currently works in a completely custodial manner. That said, the cards get their value from the NBA license anyway, so it’s unclear how much this platform would have to gain from moving to a more decentralized model that may also make it less user friendly.
Perhaps the biggest issue with NBA Top Shot is the various requirements for verifying one’s identity on the platform. Many people are not interested in sharing a lot of personal information just to trade some digital basketball cards on the internet.
