The Brooklyn Circus 🎪
The Brooklyn Circus 🎪
Featuring Nets Drama, Top Shot Thoughts, Gerard Pique's Sorare Strength, Around the NBA Web3 World & More
Good Morning, B&B Squad! Happy Hump Day, and hope your week has been a great one.
It’s been an absolute CIRCUS of a week already in the NBA, with the Brooklyn Nets as the ringleaders.
After a noisy summer in which it was reported that Kevin Durant wanted coach Steve Nash fired, it only took seven games (and a 2-5 start) for the team to make a change — with both sides mutually ‘parting ways’ on Tuesday.
We’ve also seen the always controversial Kyrie Irving in the spotlight this past week for promoting an antisemitic film on Twitter, which led to a strong statement condemning his actions from Nets owner Joe Tsai:
There was also a less-strong statement from the NBPA, which didn’t name Irving directly (despite him being one of their VPs 🤔).
If all that nonsense isn’t enough… The organization is apparently hiring Boston Celtics’ suspended coach Ime Udoka, who literally was removed just a few months ago after a workplace misconduct scandal that still feels very unresolved. And while every major media outlet seems to be reporting it as done, Nets’ GM Sean Marks denied it prior to Tuesday’s game.
In the words of John Taffer…
If you need a palate cleanser after all that, here is Tacko Fall absolutely dominating in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Let’s get into all the action from the last few days:
But first, a note from LG:
Crypto Doc For a Good Cause
Whats up peeps, its LG here. And wanted to drop a quick note about a very cool documentary coming out this morning.
Our friend and fellow podcaster Carly Reilly, host of Overpriced Jpegs, recently ventured down to Puerto Rico last February to unearth its thriving crypto scene.
Filmed over 4 days, Carly interviews local painters, tattoo artists, creatives, and engineers to highlight how the real blockchain culture if shaping up in PR. This, despite the fact that the media only ever shows PR as a haven for crypto bros.
📺 What the Media Gets Wrong About Crypto in Puerto
Why you should watch: To learn how other communities are leveraging web3
Why its important: For every view the doc gets, $1 is going to hurricane relief on the island.
How you can watch: For free on YouTube, starting today at 8:00 AM PT.
Top Shot Thoughts 🧠
It has been a bit quiet in the Top Shot streets on the macro surface, with the market continuing a slow bleed despite the start of the NBA season:
Note that there haven’t been any new packs sold yet this season (a stress test of S3 packs was released), and burning has been ramped up via Flash Challenges throughout the first weeks (roughly 21,000 moments removed). So unless the reward value outweighs the burnt moments… I guess that isn’t that surprising.
From a pure market/value perspective, it’s hard for me personally to see a path forward towards the platform ever satisfying those who joined over the past two years as a speculative investment.
However, from a future collectible and fandom perspective, this thread from Luke/ElDumbo of Dapper Labs provides a great lens on viewing the platform positively:
Pique Power 🏆
Over in the Sorare NBA streets, Game Week 4 is currently active — with the platform continuing to roll out higher tier tournaments. A slick iOS app was also rolled out this week (wen Top Shot app!?!?!?!?):
As the higher-tier competition continues to expand, there have been some massive sales in the Super Rare and Unique sections, including three auctions of over 10 ETH for cards of Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
One big buyer is someone you might recognize — Sorare strategic advisor and FC Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique:
Pique, playing professional football and still finding time to crush us fantasy/web3 nerds:
If you’re interested in more Sorare talk, check out this upcoming stream:
Around the World of Web3 🌎
Some miscellaneous basketball-relevant news from the broader crypto/NFT space:
NBA star Steph Curry files for the ‘Curryverse’ trademarks:
NBA All-World, the mysterious game from Pokemon Go creators Niantic, announced an in-game Adidas shoe drop reward for users that pre-register.
Autograph (Tom Brady’s digital collectible company) announced a video podcast hosted by Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton aimed at educating the masses on NFTs and Web3.
Blockchain company Chain became the official exclusive ‘Web3 and Blockchain Infrastructure Partner’ of the Miami Heat.
Around The First Mint 🗣
🎧 How Nike Plans to Double Revenue with NFTs
In December 2021, Nike shocked the web3 world when it purchased 2-year old design studio RTFKT. But upon closer inspection, the move makes total sense for both companies as consumers and sneakers hurtle towards the metaverse at an alarming speed. On today's show, we'll look at WHY Nike buys certain companies, and how RTFKT positioned itself to be one of them.
🎧 Why the Chicago Bulls are winning at NFTs (Feat. Luka Dukich)
🎧 Steph Curry’s Multi-Billion Dollar Future in Crypto
Thanks for reading! — Zach @ The First Mint
Follow Zach on Twitter at @GhostOfGregOden.
**This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter, podcast, or publication should be considered financial or trading advice of any kind. Please do your own thorough research and make your own trading decisions. This is not advice.”
About The First Mint
The First Mint is a web3 media company. We make. We write. We talk. We listen.