The Future Of The Digital NBA 🚀
Adam Silver revealed an INSANE mobile feature, plus other stories from the sports metaverse in our weekly recap!
Happy NBA All-Star Weekend!
When it comes to all star events, The Association is truly on another level.
They have one the marquee events in sports - the Dunk Contest - that is rivalled only by the Home Run Derby in terms of novel, inconsequential contests.
They have the Rising Stars game, the Celebrity game, and the actual All-Star game, which is only slightly less underwhelming than the NHL or MLB versions.
The NBA also uses the event to remind all other leagues how it is lightyears ahead in terms of technology and fan empowerment.
At yesterday’s annual presser, Adam Silver revealed the future streaming experience of the NBA App - where fans can scan themselves and insert their full bodies into actual NBA footage.
That clip is worth watching. If this works as advertised, then that is an absolutely crazy step forward for a league this size. Honestly, how far away would the NFL be from ever doing something like that??
Although, some fans were quick to voice a potential lack of priorities here for Silver.
The app also features a metaverse titled “Pixel Arena”. And man…is it SLICK!
Let’s get into all the action from this week in web3 sports:
Every week, we feature actionable moves you can make right now in the space. Of course, these are not financial advice :)
🟢 Predict 3-Point + All Star High Scorer | 30 seconds
Who is gonna drain the most 3s tonight? Give your best prediction on Top Shot, and do it again for tomorrow’s All Star Game.
🔵 Verify Your Wallet Safety | 2 minutes
Thanks to approvals.xyz, you can see how “safe” you Ethereum wallet is right now. Just connect, and it will show what your wallet should disconnect from.
🔵 Play OTM Hoops | 2 minutes
Our old pals at Own The Moment have done it again; a fantasy game using Top Shot Moments, similar to Rumble. Try Hoops next week when the NBA resumes.
🔵 Join Rumble Kongs to WIN | 5 minutes
Our friend at RKL are running a sweet All Star promo. You can win an X-Box or Paul George Sneakers just by heading over to their Discord.
🌟 Top Shot Launches The Mobile App
Well look who finally showed up.
NBA Top Shot launched its long awaited mobile app this week, and I have to say it is quite slick! Very good design, easy to navigate, great display of latest information, and most importantly - it just works!
Although we won’t be able to buy Moments or complete challenges in the app (yet), I’ve been told we can buy Starter Packs (if you’re a newb). This is pretty significant considering that Apple still charged 30% on in-app purchases, and has refused to budge on that rule even for NFT companies.
I’m assuming that means that TS is down to concede that 30% on starter packs, but probably not on bigger ticket packs. And definitely not on the Marketplace, where the sellers would be the ones losing that 30% (yeah…no way).
As of yesterday, the app was trending in Canada.
This came on the heels of Top Shot’s All-Star activations, which included a burning and locking competition for Rising Stars and All-Stars. Caveat: these challenges only reward the Top 500 on each board.
TS also unveiled “Predictive Challenges”, where you can predict the winner of the 3-point contest and highest scorer in the ASG to win a pack.
⛹️♂️ Sorare NBA Launches “Action Cards”
Alright honestly.
If you see this tweet, where Sorare announces “Action Cards”, you probably picture some actual slices of game footage right?
Wrong.
Instead of an image of Ja Morant actually leaping up for a bucket, we got a series of comical looking poses.
Honestly, what’s going on here? What are these images? They look like they were taken for a firefighter calendar.
The release of these cards also represents a huge missed opportunity for Sorare NBA. On a weekend when ALL EYES are fixed on the NBA, they could have easily offered these “alternate” cards as a promo for new users. Or a referral bonus. Or even just airdropped them to weekly players (like me!).
Come on guys.
🐐 Michael Jordan Turns 60
Man, it’s crazy to watch legends get old.
People magazine put out an article highlighting which celebs turn 60 this year, and the list is staggering. Jet Li, Rob Schneider, Brad Pitt, and even Lisa Kudrow!
But craziest of all is Michael Jordan, who turned 60 yesterday.
10 years ago, ESPN wrote an incredible piece on MJ when he turned 50, titled “Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building”. The piece documented MJ’s post basketball life, his golfing, and his bizarre HOF speech. It made it feel like MJ was still a big part of the modern NBA; his influence still lingering for active players.
But 10 years on, MJ is all legend and little influence. But hey - dude is still the absolute greatest there ever was. To celebrate, we put up some fun social posts, looking back on Jordan’s top selling collectibles and most memorable endorsements.
🤦 The $7 Million QR Disaster
The big story in NFTs during last week’s Super Bowl was the potential FREE mint of a DigiDaiku Dragon from Gabriel Leydon.
Way back on October 13, 2022, he wrote this now-deleted tweet:
We are excited to announce that @limitbreak has purchased a commercial spot starring @digidaigaku for SUPERBOWL LVII February 12th 2023! 50 MILLION PEOPLE will be watching live and 10s OF MILLIONS ONLINE!
We were excited for it, so much that we even featured it in last week’s newsletter. And my my, how we should have all managed our expectations here.
The ad aired during the very first commercial break, and only allowed the first 10,000 claimants to get the NFT (which many promptly sold for profit).
Following that, new claimants were simply directed to Leydon’s Twitter profile (lol).
The ad itself left something to be desired, as many were quick to point out that it was sub par for a $7M slot (the running cost of 30-second SB ads this year).
Yikes!
Speaking of the All Star Game, this is pretty crazy if true about Damian Lillard:
I write these on Friday afternoons so will not include anything from the Rising Stars game. But hey we had some sweet action regardless this week!
And hey speaking of the team MJ played for, how they doing these days?
Lastly - we rarely post hockey highlights, but if there is any player worth posting about its Connor McDavid. Just nutty.
Too many good ones to share this week!
The BLUR airdrop wreaked havoc on markets.
The Super Bowl was only just a few days ago, but it feels like an eternity in NFT time! Regardless, here were the best memes from the big game:
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**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.”
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