NBA Top Shot News Roundup
A week in the NFT space feels like a month, and a month feels like a year. It's difficult to stay up-to-date on all of the projects, news, and announcements, especially for huge ecosystems like Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot.
This weekly NBA Top Shot news roundup highlights all the most recent updates from the prior week and all the upcoming news and pack drops for the next week. Review the marketplace, prepare for drops, and never miss another important NBA Top Shot announcement.
NBA Top Shot S3 So Far
Since this is the first NBA Top Shot news roundup, let's review all of NBA Top Shot's Series 3 announcements so far. In following weeks, this article will only outline the announcements and releases that happened in the prior week.
The Roadmap
NBA Top Shot recently released "The Series 3 Pack Release and Set Roadmap," a blog article highlighting the upcoming roadmap for the entire 2021-2022 season. As a brief summary, this announcement set limits for upcoming pack drops and edition sizes.
Top Shot debuts, 3-star rookies, and LE editions will all be limited to under 12,000 total Moments.
Rare and legendary Moments will also be limited in varying capacities.
And finally, NBA Top Shot also limited the number of Moments each player in the league can have for the 2021-2022 season.
The First Drop
The first NBA Top Shot Series 3 packs dropped on Nov. 4, 2021. There were three Moments in each pack with 200,000 total packs for a price of $9 USD per pack. This drop saw limited edition rookie Top Shot debuts and sold out the day of. Since then, multiple S3 releases have been dropped.
Fresh Threads Release
Fresh Threads, a new, limited edition common set, dropped on Nov. 29, 2021. Fresh Threads Moments are limited to 11,111 Moments per player. The 130,000 packs also contained three other common Moments per pack and sold for $14 USD each.
NBA Top Shot Access Unlocked Giveaways
NBA Top Shot Access Unlocked is a new initiative to reward collectors with in-person and virtual special events and experiences.
On Dec. 3, NBA Top Shot announced a VIP weekend in San Francisco, Calif. And the team announced that future invitation-only VIP events will continue throughout 2022.
On Dec. 10, NBA Top Shot announced the NBA Top Shot Takeover for an upcoming Christmas Day game. Seven lucky collectors are going on an all-expenses-paid trip to Phoenix, Ariz., to watch the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns play from the NBA Top Shot Suite.
The giveaway included:
- Flights to and from your hometown to Phoenix, Ariz.
- Hotel accommodations
- Group dining experiences
- NBA Top Shot gift bag
- Tickets to the game
Expect updates on future NBA Top Shot Access Unlocked experiences in the coming weeks and months.
Steph Curry 3-Point Record
On Dec. 14, NBA Top Shot announced an official Showcase Challenge for users, and the reward was Stephen Curry's record-breaking 3-pointer against the New York Knicks. He surpassed Ray Allen in that game with 2,974 total triples in his career.
To enter, collectors had to add eight total Moments to their unique Showcase: six Stephen Curry Moments, one Ray Allen Run It Back (RIB) Moment, and one legendary 3-point Moment. Collectors also had to hold these Moments during the entirety of the Showcase Challenge.
The floor price is currently $3,100, and 618 collectors completed this challenge to earn the Steph Curry 3 Pointer Metallic Silver FE (Series 3) Moment.
Premium Packs and Deck the Hoops
NBA Top Shot is releasing its first premium and legendary packs of Series 3 (S3) on Tuesday, Dec. 21. Scroll down to "Upcoming NBA Top Shot Drops" for more information.
What's New With NBA Top Shot?
NBA Top Shot recently released "2022: The Road Ahead," a blog article highlighting the upcoming year for the Dapper Labs platform. Let's take a look at what's new with NBA Top Shot:
Legendary Limit
In Series 3 (S3), there will be no more than 10,000 legendary Moments sold in packs for the entire season. No individual legendary Moment NFT will have an edition size larger than 99. This is the most recent effort from NBA Top Shot to provide scarcity and limit its ever-increasing supply.
New Rewards
NBA Top Shot is focused on rewarding "good" collectors. This year, users who engage with the platform the most will be rewarded the most.
"If you want to stack 1,000 Cody Zeller Moments, go ahead and do that," the press release reads. "If you want to scoop up all the greatest players in the rarest of tiers, you can do that too. Rewards in Top Shot will scale with how much you engage - no matter how you choose to."
The team also announced more targeted airdrops for holders of full sets and overall marketplace engagement. On top of that, NBA Top Shot is doing more challenges this season. Earn rewards with Moments you already hold. This is an effort to increase Moment NFTs' utility.
Marketplace Updates
Users have been asking for months, and NBA Top Shot finally delivered: a brand new bidding system for the marketplace is coming in 2022. This is, reportedly, a top priority for the team.
A new bidding system will help users with price discovery and marketplace transparency. More updates are coming in the following weeks.
NBA Top Shot also announced a watchlist feature for users who are actively tracking Moments to purchase. The first version of this tool came out this week. Updates are expected in the future.
Community Gift Back
This week, Dapper Labs gave back 5 percent of net marketplace spend to users. Net marketplace spend is the amount of all marketplace purchases minus the amount of all marketplace sales.
For example, if you purchased a LeBron James Moment for $10,500 and a Tyler Herro Moment for $500, but then sold the Tyler Herro Moment for $1,000, your net marketplace spend would be $10,000. You should expect to see a $500 gift back.
These gift backs started hitting accounts this week.
Other Updates
NBA Top Shot is also working on improving the pack drop experience, increasing the platform's overall performance capabilities, making the onboarding experience easier, connecting the product to social media and metaverses, and adding team leaderboards via LiveToken.
NBA Top Shot Market Overview
To determine how the NBA Top Shot market has been faring this week, let's take a look at historical sales volume and total market cap.
Sales have been steadily increasing in total volume since Dec. 13. On Dec. 19, sales volume for the week peaked at nearly $3.5 million. The sharp decline is not entirely accurate, as this article was written in the early morning on Dec. 20. Sales volume still has plenty of time to increase for the day.
But sales volume is not a positive market indicator if total market cap is decreasing. Fortunately, that is not the case.
Sales volume seems to be coinciding with an uptick in overall market cap. From the low on Dec. 17 to the high on Dec. 19, NBA Top Shot's total market cap increased nearly $50 million. That is starting to decline today, and we will have to wait and see how the rare and legendary pack drops tomorrow impact the overall market.
Check back next week.
Upcoming NBA Top Shot Drops
Below is a list of all the officially announced, upcoming pack drops for NBA Top Shot:
Premium Pack Drop 1 (Rare)
When: December 21, 2021
Number of Packs: 13,000 (6,500 for Priority Queue; 6,500 for General Queue)
Moments per Pack: 6
Price: $89 USD
Time: 3:00 p.m. EST for Priority Queue (7,500 Collector Score); 5:00 p.m. EST for General Queue (2,500 Collector Score)
Deck the Hoops: 2010s (Legendary)
When: December 21, 2021
Number of Packs: 470 (270 for Priority Queue; 200 for General Queue)
Moments per Pack: 9
Price: $999 USD
Time: 12:00 p.m. EST for Priority Queue (25,000 Collector Score); 1:30 p.m. EST for General Queue (10,000 Collector Score)
Starter Pack (Common)
This is a reminder to all NBA Top Shot newcomers that you're able to purchase a Starter Pack, if you have less than two total packs purchased in your account history.
When: Whenever
Number of Packs: Unlimited
Moments per Pack: 3
Price: $9
Time: Anytime
Nine Lives Lounge (NLL) Updates
For those that are unaware, the Nine Lives Lounge (NLL) is an exclusive and official NBA Top Shot gated community. For access, users must own all 30 Moments from the Cool Cats (S2) set.
Current membership perks include:
- Access to exclusive Discord gated channels
- Direct support from Dapper Labs
- Exclusive conversations with Dapper Labs' staff
- Exclusive giveaways
- Voting rights for certain NBA Top Shot decisions
Added membership perks for late 2021 and 2022 include:
- Early access to NFL All Day, Dapper Labs' American football product
- Early access to UFC on Flow, Dapper Labs' MMA product
- Exclusive and free merchandise
- Community events and airdrops
