The Jimmy Butler Pump 🔥
Featuring a humble Top Shot pump, a new partnership, the NFL Draft, and a much needed upgrade to the Sorare marketplace.
It finally happened.
Dare I say it: an asset on NBA Top Shot actually pumped. Twice, in fact.
And what’s worse is that we predicted this pump just 5 days ago on the podcast, literally hours before it happened.
I’m talking of course about Jimmy Butler and the Heat absolutely stunning the Milwaukee Bucks, which resulted in Buter’s Redemption Moment pumping from $3 to $16 as the Heat won Game 4.
And then pumping again when they wont Game 5 to cap one of the biggest NBA Playoff upsets of all time.
You can watch us predict it here.
For the first time in what feels like forever, an item on Top Shot pumped due to Basketball reasons.
Not due to challenges.
Not due to leaderboards.
Not due to some other artificial market making tactic.
Jimmy’s Moment pumped because people slept on the Heat and didn’t think they had much of a chance, despite up 2-1 in the series. But if you knew and/or had a hunch, you could have…made money?
To me, this is what NBATS has always been about and should have always been about. We need more of it.
Have there been predictive challenges in the past? Yes, of course. But on a scale as small as the regular season games, it doesn’t feel the same. This is the big stage.
And - the numbers involved are small. There were only 5,000 potential Jimmy Moments here, not 40k or 60k.
Now can TS carry this into next season and find a way to make the regular season as special as the playoffs? Can they fix the many other issues, such as those around supply? We don’t know. But a win is a win!
So with those flowers being handed out, let’s get into all the action from this past week.
This newsletter is brought to you by SWOOPS!
Swoops is a basketball simulation game where you can compete for championships, win daily cash prizes, and honestly just enjoy owning a basketball team!
Every player has a unique set of traits - as in no two players (NFTs) are the same - and they can all be used to build your squad.
Swoops already boasts 200+ community owned teams and has simulated over 145,000 games since launch earlier this year. So you could say its pretty hot right now!
Key Details for the Season 1 Drop:
1,500 Total Supply
0.05 ETH per Swooper
Begins May 17th
You’ll be hearing more about them these next few weeks in the newsletter.
Every week we feature some easy opportunities in the space, like free mints, allow lists, and starter packs. Check em out!
⚽ FREE Pack on La Liga Golazos | 60 seconds
Dapper-led project La Liga Golazos has a free pack on right now, containing 9x NFTs inside from various La Liga legends. Did I mention its FREE?
🥅 Sign up for NHL Breakaway Beta Access | 60 seconds
The NHL is coming to NFTs, via a licensee named Sweet. No packs yet, but more news is coming this week. Apply here for Beta Access!
⛳ Open a FREE Draft Kings PGA Pack | 60 seconds
To celebrate its launch of the PGA product, Reignmakers has a free pack available right now with NFTs that can be used towards upcoming tournaments.
✅ Sign up for SWOOPS Presale | 2 minutes
As you saw above, SWOOPS is coming in hot this coming month. The launch is May 17th and costs $100 (and you can pay with fiat). Be sure to sign up!
🏆 ALL DAY Lands at the NFL Draft
Be honest.
Would you rather hit the NFL Draft, NBA Summer League, or MLB Spring Training? Because our Twitter community voted Summer League, but very narrowly.
Although to be fair, the draft doesn’t have any actual games, so its not apples to apples. But damn does it ever look fun!
Especially if you’re an ALL DAY VIP, where you would of had the chance to meet with Patrick Mahomes Thursday night.
That is pretty damn cool, and actually a good way to balance the sentiment after a not-so-great story was published in The Block this week, revealing how the platform failed to make its revenue targets which resulted in a dispute with the players association.
Here’s the summary:
I’ve got two feelings here.
On one hand, I can’t say anyone should be surprised, as the entire NFT market soured just months before ALL DAY should have hit is stride at the start of last season. Platform was a victim of circumstance.
On the other, it’s still quite surprising that AD has not taken off more than it already has. After all, this is football, which is absolutely king in the US. No other sports comes close in terms of total revenue, ratings, and fans.
So did it miss expectation due to the market or due to the business model?
After all, if digital sports collectibles are to ever hit true mass adoption, you would expect the NFL to lead that charge. But if no one wants NFTs, its a near-impossible hill to climb.
Time will tell, as next season will come fast.
🛒 Sorare Makes Huge Marketplace Update
This is small note I’m including here mainly because it was a slow news week.
But this is pretty big for Sorare users!
Prior to this upgrade, all moments of every tier would be displayed on the marketplace, which then required the ultra-annoying task of filtering by “Lowest Price”.
But no more!
A heartwarming highlight from earlier in the week, as another MLB minor league journeyman got his promotion to the bigs.
On that same note, the first two days of the NFL Draft are done, and #2 overall pick CJ Stroud was incredibly emotional in the moment he was picked.
Even better - his childhood friend and 1st overall pick Bryce Young went wild when he heard his pal had been picked right behind him.
And of course the biggest actual sports play highlight of the week came when Jimmy Buckets nailed this absolutely insane basket to send the game to overtime (and eventually win the series!).
You may have seen this, and it’s worth showing it again - Giannis’ response to a reporter asking him if the season was a failure.
I can guarantee this will be part of “Motivational Speeches Part 5” type videos on YouTube for decades to come.
**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
A web3 sports community. Collectibles, NFTs, and Metaverse.
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