The time has come for us to move forward with one of the most highly anticipated design features of the NBA Top Shot beta: Moment Badges.
For months we explored different ways of adding visual identification for particularly significant landmark Moments and the end result adds fitting flair to some of the community’s most beloved collectibles.
A total of five different badges have been created and assigned to the NBA Top Shot Moments that have been minted and released in packs up to this point. These will also be added to new Moments that qualify for them heading forward.
Let’s dive right in.
Breaking Down Rookie Badges
Most of our badges revolve around rookies — no surprise given the high esteem that first-year players are held in by our community and across the collectibles landscape. Here’s a quick look at those rookie badges, with some examples of Moments that qualify for them.
Note that one individual Moment can qualify for one, two or even all three of the following three rookie badges.
Rookie Year Badge - This badge signifies that the play featured in a given Moment was from the subject player’s rookie season, regardless of when said Moment was minted.
View all Moments with the Rookie Year badge
Rookie Premiere Badge - This badge signifies that the specific play featured in a given Moment is from the subject player’s very first regular season matchup.
View all Moments with the Rookie Premiere badge
Rookie Mint Badge - This badge signifies that the specific play featured in a given Moment was minted at some point during the subject player’s rookie season.
View all Moments with the Rookie Mint badge
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In the case of Morant, his December 11, 2019 Base Set Moment from Series 1 featured a play in his rookie season and that play was first minted during his rookie season. He will qualify for both the Rookie Year Badge and the Rookie Mint Badge and both badges will be visible on that particular Moment.
Of course there are also cases of players qualifying for each of the three individual rookie badges, we call these Three-Star Rookies and they get some special treatment.
Three-Star Rookie Badge - To do our Three-Star Rookies justice, we’ve designed a specific super-badge that will appear on Moments in place of the three individual rookie badges. For all intents and purposes, the Three-Star Rookie Moments will still qualify for each of the individual rookie badges, but the world will see the Three-Star Rookie badge and immediately understand the historical significance of the Moment.
View all Moments with the Three-Star Rookie badge
Top Shot Debut Badge - Rookies aren’t the only players who will be commemorated with badges; we’ve also elected to identify the debut Top Shot appearance of any NBA player, rookie or otherwise. These Top Shot Debut badges will be affixed to any Moment featuring the player’s first play minted on the blockchain. Bear in mind that the Top Shot Debut badge will be assigned to the player's first play that is minted in our system and not necessarily the first one that reaches circulation (for example, Théo Maledon's Rising Stars Moment will not receive the Top Shot Debut badge because his Series 2 Base Set Moment was minted first. It just has not been released yet).
View all Moments with the Top Shot Debut badge
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In Series 2, every individual Moment has had a unique play but that wasn’t the case in Series 1. In that 2019-20 series, specific plays were used in the Base Set but also in select Rare and Legendary sets.
Steph Curry’s March 5, 2020 assist, for example, was used in his initial Base Set Moment in Series 1 but also in his Holo Moment, MGLE Moment and even his From the Top Moment. All of these Curry Moments will receive the Top Shot Debut badge because they all featured his very first play added to the NBA Top Shot platform.
Overview
The integration of these five badges will add additional flair to select Moments, calling attention to plays with specific contextual significance. What gives them real value is you: the collector.
One of our top priorities with NBA Top Shot has been to build a transparent Marketplace and the rollout of these badges allows us to give all collectors equal access to information about when and how certain plays arrived on the blockchain.
