Welcome to another edition of Community Roundup -- this is your one-stop shop for all things NBA Top Shot.
We’ll review FAQs we’re seeing from the community and provide you with some highlights from the past week’s NBA Top Shot community coverage. We also have a discussion with an avid collector in the community, HiroSportsCards.
Reminder: Our Certified Ballers Showcase Contest runs till May 4 at 12pm PDT! To be eligible, collectors must use at least three (3) Moments from the Certified Ballers list in their Showcase. These Moments feature NBA players who have been early adopters in the NBA Top Shot community. For more details, read the full blog post around the Showcase Contest.
FAQ'S FROM THE COMMUNITY
Q: How does the onboarding process work for Certified Ballers on NBA Top Shot?
Currently, we have a page that lists the Certified Ballers that are verified on NBA Top Shot. Keep in mind this list is not final and we are continuing to add players to this page for the duration of the Showcase Contest. For example, Paul George and Karl-Anthony Towns were two recent additions to the list over the last week.
Q: Why does the cooldown timer initiate after failed transactions in the Marketplace?
We empathize with collectors who are frustrated about this. Our dev team is aware of this concern and they are tirelessly working hard to rectify this.
There is a chance that after waiting for about 10 minutes and refreshing your page, collectors will be allowed to resume with transactions in the Marketplace because the system recognizes the failed transaction. Note that this short-term fix does not work 100 percent of the time. The long-term fix is ensuring collectors are not penalized for failed transactions.
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Part of what makes NBA Top Shot so special is the community. Your passion and excitement does not go unnoticed — we love to see it. So, we wanted to take a moment and spotlight one of the many avid collectors in our community, HiroSportsCards.
We learned HiroSportsCards is a big Los Angeles Lakers fan and has been a big collector of physical trading cards. What excited him the most about NBA Top Shot? Read the full transcript below.
How did you get started with NBA Top Shot?
I've been collecting, buying, and selling basketball cards since the pandemic hit last year and using Instagram as one of my main platforms. And then a few months ago I saw this dude (shoutout @hypecards_) do a Legendary pack opening back when packs were just sitting there on the virtual shelves waiting for people to scoop them up. I was super hesitant to get into Top Shot at first, but once I bought my first moment (Kendrick Nunn /15k) I was hooked. Contrary to popular belief, some people actually start their Top Shot journey by buying a Moment and not waiting for a pack!
What do you love most about NBA Top Shot?
The first thing that stood out most was the frictionless trading compared to packing up and shipping out physical trading cards - let's not even get into grading cards. Don't get me wrong, I still love collecting physical cards, but you can't beat the ease of use of Top Shot. Now that I've been in it a few months though, my favorite part has been collecting Common Moments of Lakers players for fun and timing when to buy them (sorry Laker haters, you're going to get real sick of me by the end of this). I love that they've recently minted some Trez, Carushow, and Marc Gasol Moments, and I'm definitely going to have to pick up Kuz's first Moment when more of those get released. Also, and the potential utility Top Shot has in the real world in the future that Mark Cuban and Roham have spoken about. Sorry, that was like three things - there's just so much to love about Top Shot, honestly.
What is your favorite Moment you own?
I'm definitely not a Top Shot whale so I only have 1 non-Common moment in my collection, but out of all my Commons my favorite has to be my Markieff Morris /1915 from Series 1, assisted by LeBron. My wife and I watched every single 2020 Laker playoff game together on our couch and this moment from the NBA Finals just reminds me of how that championship run brought so much joy to us during the pandemic.
What is your favorite Moment you want to collect?
As of right now, that'd have to be Luka's game-winner last year against the Clippers in Game 4. Luka is hands down my favorite player in the league right now and I remember running around my apartment and jumping on my bed after watching that shot. Not to mention he drained that on my least favorite sports franchise of all time.
Which highlight do you want to see minted?
Literally anything Kobe. Other than that, probably Derek Fisher's 0.4 second game-winner in the 2004 playoffs. Funny story, my brother and I were just kids watching this game with our dad. We saw Tim Duncan hit that wild go-ahead jumper over Shaq with 0.4 seconds left on the clock and thought it was all over. Feeling defeated, we shut the TV off and went outside to shoot around like we normally did after Laker games, and moments later we hear our neighbors screaming and yelling something about Derek Fisher. We sprint back in the house, turn the TV back on, and realize we had just missed one of the greatest shots of all time, or as Shaq likes to say, "One lucky shot deserves another."
Favorite NBA team and/or player.
I was pretty much brainwashed from birth to be a die-hard Laker fan. There's literally a picture of me when I'm a few months old wearing an XXXS baby Kobe jersey that I still have to this day, and I've been a Laker fan ever since - even through the dark days of the mid 2000's and mid 2010's. And like I mentioned before, Luka is my current favorite player. His game is just so effortless, his step-back that looks like it should get blocked every time is so smooth, his ball fakes and footwork in the paint are legendary, he has that megastar personality, he has the clutch gene, and he's only 22 years old. My only gripe is his turnovers, but what're you gonna do when your usage rate is second in the entire league. (Mark Cuban, get this man some more help!)
Can you share your strategy for collecting NBA Top Shot Moments?
Like I mentioned before, my strategy right now is just collecting the players I like, in this case that'd be all Lakers players' Commons. I also really like collecting any moments with a badge. I'm picturing 10 years from now when we're on Series 12+, those Rookie and First Moments will be highly sought after. To survive in the Top Shot realm, you really have to have a collector's mindset and not just think about how you're gonna make 10x your money in a month, that's just not realistic or good for your blood pressure.
There are a number of resources available from the community. What or who are some of your favorite websites, blogs, accounts that you use and/or follow on a daily basis to inform your strategy?
The Sutto sisters, Steph (@StephSutto) and Jennifer (@jennifer_sutto), are a great follow - Steph is owning the Twitch space and Jenn is owning the YouTube space. @Securethedub is a great resource for Swyysh fantasy. Jelyn Hermosa (@topshotnoobie) has great insight and a fun blog. Greg Murray's (@_GregMurray) deep dive analyses are next level. Pete Overzet is hilarious (@peteroverzet). Obviously you have to follow @LGDoucet and The First Mint (@TheFirstMint) podcast - he's a Top Shot flagbearer. As far as websites go, evaluate.market is an obvious one. Make sure you're familiar with topshotexplorer.com and what it actually does. Join weekly free Top Shot fantasy on swyysh.com, seriously you won't regret it. I'm actually not too up to date on the different valuation tools out there, which brings me to the last question...
Piece of advice for collectors trying to get in the game.
Do not regularly check your account valuation!!! Seriously, this will drive you insane and will ruin the collector experience for you. Top Shot is made for collectors, not for get rich quick schemes. I know there are a lot of people who look at their account value and panic, but there are so many things to look forward to in Top Shot: real life utility, Top Shot Hardcourt, more high profile athletes, companies, execs, and celebrities backing the product, marketing, continuous website and customer support improvements, and most importantly, TIME. My advice is to zoom out and imagine what this could be like in 10, 20 years. Also, just in general, don't spend money that you aren't willing/able to lose.
You can check out HiroSportsCards’ NBA Top Shot collection here and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. He also gives an in-depth overview on how to participate in our Certified Ballers Showcase Contest that runs till May 4 at 12pm PDT.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Miles Bridges is the king of dunk YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Top Shot, WHATEVER ... All I know is when Miles Bridges takes off, everybody else on the court better get out of the way." -Stephen A. Smith (via Stephen A’s World on ESPN+)
AROUND THE LEAGUE
For your reading and viewing pleasure, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite NBA Top Shot coverage in the community and beyond over the last week.
The First Mint | Overview on Cool Cats Master Challenge
Jennifer Sutto | How Do NBA Top Shot Challenges Work?
Flow Dojo | Certified Ballers Showcase Contest Overview
Dan Schoonmaker | NBA Top Shot Directory of Tools & Resources
AS A REMINDER
- We gave an update to the community around FAQs, withdrawals and upcoming features in our State of NBA Top Shot blog for April 2021. Read the full post here.
- Miss reading our last Community Roundup? Justin Herzig of OwntheMoment was featured in our Community Spotlight.
- There are currently three active challenges - Holo Icon Challenge 5, Cool Cats Challenge 5 and Metallic Gold LE Challenge 24 - where you can earn exclusive rewards and add to your collection. Remember, do not feel obligated to complete every single challenge. We shared some insight and gave the community an update on concurrent challenges running.
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can listen to the full audio from our Discord Office Hours chat. We will be hosting these on a more regular basis moving forward: Tuesday’s at 2pm PDT/5pm EDT and Friday’s at 10am PDT/1pm EDT.
