The NBA’s historical archives are filled with unforgettable highlights from every decade that will, one day, become collectibles on NBA Top Shot.
As we navigate historical greatness, today, the Top Shot team is instituting a new set of rules to give collectors confidence and clarity around what’s possible as we explore the past.
Here are Top Shot’s Four Historical Rules
The Rookie Mint Rule, Rookie Scarcity Rule, Anthology Scarcity Rule, and Historical Scarcity Rule are effective immediately, detailed below, and informed by the feedback we’ve received from our collectors over the last few years.
THE ROOKIE MINT RULE
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The Headline
NBA and WNBA players with a Rookie Mint Badged Moment will never receive another Rookie Moment of any kind after their Rookie Series ends, even if that player receives an Anthology in the future.
The Details
Rookie Mint Badges are specifically given to Moments from players whose Rookie Moments are minted during their Rookie season.
If a player has a Rookie Mint Badge Moment, you can confidently collect any Moments from their Rookie season knowing they will never have another Moment from their Rookie season released in the future on NBA Top Shot.
Rookie collectibility is a top priority for Top Shot and this Rookie Mint Rule will reinforce this with complete clarity.
- In Series 1, the Rookie Mint Rule applies to Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, RJ Barrett, and other members of this draft class.
- In Series 2, the Rookie Mint Rule applies to Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, LaMelo Ball, and other members of this draft class.
- In Series 3, the Rookie Mint Rule applies to Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes, and other members of this draft class.
- In Series 4, the Rookie Mint Rule applies to Paolo Banchero, Jalen Williams, Walker Kessler, and other members of this draft class.
- In the WNBA, this includes Rhyne Howard, Aliyah Boston, Diamond Miller, and other W rookies to make their debuts during the Top Shot era.
THE ROOKIE SCARCITY RULE
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The Headline
Players who do not have a Rookie Mint Badge Moment can have a maximum of 1 total historical Rookie Moment in the Rare or Legendary tier — with the exception being Anthology level players (who can get one in each tier).
The Details
For players who do not have a Rookie Mint Badge Moment, because their Rookie season took place before Top Shot existed, we will be extra disciplined and careful with regard to how many Rookie Moments are introduced, which is where this rule comes into play.
Effective immediately, there is a limit of 1 total historical Rookie Moment in the Rare or Legendary tier per player, ever.
Moving forward, the maximum Mint Count of a historical Rare or Legendary Rookie Moment is /399.
For example, Giannis Antetokounmpo has a Series 1 Rare Rookie Moment from the Run It Back Set. This means that Antetokounmpo can not have a second Rare or first Legendary Rookie Moment.
The only exception to this rule is if a player receives an Anthology, in which case they’d be eligible to receive a Rookie Moment in the tier they currently do not have one.
Over the next 30 days, Run It Back Origins: 2014-19 will be introduced, giving 25 of the most successful modern players their first (and only) Rare or Legendary Rookie Moments.
THE ANTHOLOGY SCARCITY RULE
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The Headline
Anthology collections will only have Rare and Legendary Moments, and a maximum of 10 total editions ever per player.
The Details
Series 4 saw the introduction of the first 5 Anthologies on Top Shot, celebrating the achievements of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry.
As we continue to celebrate the greatest players in NBA history with their own special Anthology treatments, we’re proud to share these rules to offer more predictability around the very best Moments from the very best players from NBA history.
Anthology Scarcity Rule #1: An Anthology will not and cannot contain any Common or Fandom Moments.
Anthology Scarcity Rule #2: A player’s Anthology collection will not exceed 10 total plays. That’s not to say every Anthology will have 10 plays, but simply that it cannot have more than 10. Magic and Bird each have 5 Anthology plays as of September 2023, with 3 for LeBron James, 2 for Kevin Durant, and 2 for Steph Curry. Anthology collections are designed to remain open for years, so there’s no urgency to introduce more Moments for these players before a Series starts or ends.
Anthology Scarcity Rule #3: Lastly, a player with an Anthology can have historical non-Anthology Moments — as we’ve already seen with Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson across our Run It Back Sets, but the very best Moments of their career will generally be reserved for this special dedicated treatment.
THE HISTORICAL SCARCITY RULE
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Headline
When a player receives a new historical Rare or Legendary Moment, they cannot receive a second historical Moment in that tier in that series or in the following series.
The Details
At the Rare and Legendary tiers, there will be a rolling window in which a player is off-limits for new historical Moments.
During these windows, the maximum limit for a Rare mint is /899 and the maximum limit for a Legendary mint is /99, meaning the maximum possible supply of a player who received one Rare Historical Moment and one Legendary Historical Moment would be /998 over the span of two series.
For example, Kevin McHale, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy, and Isiah Thomas, the starting 5 Legendary collectibles in the Series 4 Run It Back: Legacies 1986-87 Set, will not have another Legendary Moment until Series 6 at the earliest.
We’re instituting this rule to create a more stable and collector-friendly environment around historical content. Instances with Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Tony Parker, and Paul Pierce in our first two Run It Back Sets proved a need to create some more stability around these players in the Rare and Legendary tiers going forward.
At the Common and Fandom tier, there are no limits. That’s not to say we intend on minting Common or Fandom Moments of the same players on repeat, but this rule is intended to reinforce the collectibility of our best Moments long term, which we anticipate will be at the higher end tiers.
This rule does not apply to Anthology players and their Moments, as these Drops tend to be dedicated specifically to these players and their careers, featuring more than one Moment in a Drop or short period.
The Historical Rules have been thoughtfully designed to reinforce scarcity and collectibility and create predictability for Top Shot collectors over the coming months and years.
If you have questions or feedback, please share them with mailbag@nbatopshot.com. We reserve the right to add additional Historical Rules, but will never change these rules now that they’re established.
