Yo. It's KD. 📫
Featuring A WNBA Finals Experience, KD Email Fun, Ticketmaster x Dapper, A Spida Trade & More
GM, B&B Ballers! Hope you had an excellent week, and cheers to the weekend!
We got a MAJOR Woj Bomb on Thursday, with one of the major dominoes left to fall in the NBA offseason finally toppling — a Donovan Mitchell trade:
For Cleveland, this is a huge get — a superstar in his prime joins a super-talented young core that already includes Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen. The Cavs immediately vaults into the postseason picture, and Mitchell gets the change of scenery he desperately needed after several years of tension.
And for Utah, it’s a major haul of picks and young players — and a great starting point for a full rebuild alongside the Rudy Gobert trade earlier this summer.
Also intriguing was Woj’s follow-up tweet, which detailed that the Jazz turned down a Knicks offer that included RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Mitchell Robinson and three unprotected first-round picks. That is quite a package to turn down, though extensions for Barrett and Robinson likely loomed large.
Making the playoffs in the East is going to be an absolute battle this year, with a conference full of stars and young upstart teams. Fun times ahead!
Let’s get into all the action from the last few days:
WNBA Finals Fun ✈️
The WNBA playoffs are in full force, with the two semifinals matchups currently tied at 1-1 (Chicago vs. Connecticut & Las Vegas vs. Seattle) heading into the weekend.
With the Finals in sight, Top Shot announced the next Access Unlocked experience on Thursday, which will send 10 collectors to Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
A snapshot of the top 5 collectors on the WNBA leaderboards of the two Finals teams (not a random drawing) will be taken on Sept. 6, and will be treated to the following perks:
— Two tickets to Game 4 of the WNBA Finals in TBD host city.
— Round Trip flights or travel to and from your hometown to the host city (if necessary).
— Hotel Accommodations and ground transportation.
— Group dining experiences and activities with the Top Shot staff
As we’ve seen in past ‘Access Unlocked’ trips, the Top Shot events team knows how to create absolutely amazing experiences — so for those atop the W leaderboards, buckle up!
Yo. It’s KD 📫
NBA Top Shot sent out an… interesting email on Wednesday, which sent the community into a frenzy. The sender?
While I don’t think many of us were under the illusion that Kevin Durant was actually sending us an email, the body copy felt more like a generic NBA 2K MyPlayer comment than an authentic endorsement:
My whole career, I’ve been about getting buckets.
I’m climbing the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and I’ve got the Moments to prove I’m still at the top of my game.
Hooping is my passion. Make collecting yours.
The Top Shot team ran with the funny misfire — which was a test supposed to be sent to a smaller group:
As a classic reply guy and prickly personality on the Internet, the image of KD actually sending this email will forever make me chuckle.
But for OKC fans, it might be like getting a text from an old ex:
Ticket Talk 🎟
We saw an interesting announcement in the FLOW streets on Wednesday, with ticketing giant Ticketmaster teaming up with Dapper to bring event tickets onto the blockchain:
The partnership is a major one for the NFT space as a whole — as ticketing could be one of the easiest ways to onboard the masses in a functional, and non-obtrusive way. With many professional leagues already moving to digital ticketing, taking another step with NFTs would be a logical move to gather better data on their fans, as well as take advantage of the resale market.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had this to say last year on bringing NFTs to the NBA ticketing world:
“With the [Mavericks], we’re trying to find a good option for turning our tickets into NFTs,” Cuban said on “The Delphi Podcast” on Wednesday. “We want to be able to find ways so that not only can our consumers, our fans, buy tickets and resell them, but we continue to make a royalty on them.”
With Dapper and FLOW in the picture, could we also one day see Top Shot involved in the NBA ticketing process?
Imagine seeing a single-game ticket voucher included in a pack, or a certain subset of Team Leaderboards rewarded with season tickets?!? One can dream!
Around The First Mint 🗣
🎧 The Man Who Called the LUNA Collapse (Feat. Jack Niewold)
What if you quit your job to RESEARCH crypto full time and write about it? That's todays guest, Jack Niewold, who has covered the LUNA collapse, the ETH Merge, the Celcius Collapse, and hands out lengthy advice FOR FREE on the internet. We cover his how he got started, his tips for 100x on an altcoin, and what to look for in the future of NFTs.
🎧 The King of NFT Twitter (Feat. ThreadGuy)
🎧 The ETH Merge Explained (Feat. 0xQuit)
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.”
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