Update: The Great Burn has concluded. 2,571,263 Moments have been burned and permanently removed from NBA Top Shot's supply. A full list of Moments burned in this process can be found here. This blog has also been updated to correct that no Early Adopters Moments were burned as part of this process.

Breaking news: our Hot Packs drop just sparked a fire in Top Shot's supply.

The flames are spreading fast, burning all the way back to Series 1. 

As you read this, more than 2.5 million unsold Moments from the NBA Top Shot vault are being permanently removed from circulation in real-time. 

The Moments being burned include some of the most coveted unreleased collectibles in Top Shot history. 

Back in Series 1, NBA Top Shot partially held back supply* on some of the best Moments in its inventory. 

The thinking for partial releases in 2020 was simple: “why rush to get this supply out now?” when there was time to figure out a more elegant solution to distribute these Moments later. 

As time has gone on, we see that the “wait and see” approach has added more uncertainty to collecting at the high end, off-setting the upside that’d come from finding the perfect distribution mechanism one day. As a result, we are making the important decision to remove the uncertainty from the market and effectively finish the distribution of these Moments by burning the Moments that are unreleased.  

Which Moments are included in the burn? Glad you asked:

  • We are burning ALL 8,000+ unreleased Series 1 Common and Rare Challenge Rewards, ensuring some of the most limited edition and special Moments on all of Top Shot will remain as limited and special as they can possibly be.

  • We’re also burning ALL unreleased Series 1 Moments from the Got Game, Rookie Debut and Hometown Showdown sets.

  • Finally, we’re burning millions of unpacked and unreleased Series 2 and Series 3 Base Set Moments, and sending rookie debuts and serials #1-99 to the Locker Room for future Trade Ticket packs.

This burn, which can take upwards of 48 hours to complete, will include heavy hitters:

3 of Zion Williamson’s Rare Rookie Debuts.

Zion Williamson Top Shot

16 of Ja Morant’s Series 1 Rares.

Ja Morant Top Shot

51 of Joel Embiid’s Rare Top Shot Debuts

Joel Embiid Top Shot

51 of Jaylen Brown’s Rare Top Shot Debuts.

Jaylen Brown Top Shot

14 of Devin Booker's Series 1 Rares.

Devin Booker Top Shot

37 of James Harden’s Rare Top Shot Debuts. 

James Harden Top Shot

48 of Zach LaVine’s Rare Top Shot Debuts.

Zach Lavine Top Shot

40 of DeMar DeRozan’s Rare Top Shot Debuts.

Demar Derozan Top Shot

Thousands of other S1 grails from the likes of Nikola Jokić, Anthony Davis, RJ Barrett, Karl-Anthony Towns and Derrick Rose are also among the Moments being burned.

That’s right – thousands of high-end Moments from Series 1 that never got released in 2020 will be permanently destroyed over the next 48 hours, ensuring some of the most incredibly collectible Series 1 editions will preserve their extreme scarcity forever.

The few Series 1 Legendary Challenge Rewards in our possession will be distributed at a later date in a way that promotes scarcity. 

For a long time, the conversation around burning of Moments has focused on big numbers — and those are important, but quality of the Moments getting burned matters too. 

Series 1 Moments, including many Top Shot Debuts, will stand the test of time as immortalized grails on our platform.

Collectible tributes not just to the first months of NBA Top Shot and the league’s best talent, but to one of the most significant seasons in sports history, period. 

To accompany the heavy hitters from Series 1, we’ll also be burning millions of unpacked and unreleased Series 2 and Series 3 Base Set Moments.

Among them, we will not be burning any Serial Numbers between #1-99, Top Shot Debuts or rookie debuts. Saved from the burn, these Moments will be sent to the Locker Room for collectors to redeem through Trade Ticket packs throughout the season. 

When the show is over, we’ll recap the Moments from Top Shot’s inventory that are gone forever. 

This NBA season is going to be different, in the best way possible. It starts now.

Get your marshmallows and follow the inferno on our homepage and on Twitter with the @LiveTokenBot.  

* In Top Shot’s inaugural season, Challenge Rewards were minted to at least #/25 at the Legendary tier, #/150 at the Rare tier, and #/1000 at the Common tier. In certain instances, more Rewards were minted than the number of challenges completed.