The best collectible in sports extends far beyond scarcity and pristine condition. It entails all of the rewards and utility that a collectible can unlock as well.
This season, NBA Top Shot is committed to delivering rewards and providing consistent ways to give back to collectors. Collecting, competing, and completing on NBA Top Shot has never been more fun.
Let’s dive into it:
THE PERKS OF LOCKING MOMENTS FOR THE 2023-24 NBA SEASON
The 2023-24 NBA season is finally here. And with it, a brand new opportunity for us to lay the foundation for how collectors can make the most out of their Top Shot experience.
This season, there’ll be three clear reasons to lock Moments or keep Moments locked in your collection. Locking a Moment means the Moment cannot be traded or sold for 365 days, so if you plan on holding your collection for the long term, locking Moments may fit in with your collecting strategy.
1. CONSISTENT AIRDROPS:
For EVERY Rare and Legendary Moment minted this season, an allotment will be reserved and airdropped to collectors on the respective Leaderboards for both player and team.
a. FOR PLAYER LEADERBOARDS:
Collectors ranking on Player Leaderboards will be automatically entered into a weighted airdrop for every time that player receives a Rare or Legendary Moment that’s dropped in Packs.
b. FOR TEAM LEADERBOARDS:
Collectors ranking on Team Leaderboard will be automatically entered into a weighted airdrop for every time that a player from that team receives a Rare or Legendary Moment that’s dropped in Packs.
The quantity of Moments allocated for the Player and Team Leaderboards will vary from set to set, and will be at least partially informed by the mint count of the edition in question.
2. END OF YEAR AIRDROPS:
One of the most fun ways to collect on NBA Top Shot is to call your shot on which players are going to win end-of-season accolades. If you’re confident Joel Embiid will defend his title as the league’s MVP, or if you believe Victor Wembanyama is a shoe-in for Rookie of the Year honors, collecting and locking Moments from the players you believe in could yield some incredibly fun and exclusive rewards at the end of the season.
a. FOR PLAYER LEADERBOARDS:
For the MVP and Rookie of the Year award races at the end of the season, the Legendary Hardware Set will be making a triumphant return. This year, the three finalists for both MVP and Rookie of the Year will be included in the Set, featuring six total Moments, each minted to /50. The highlights used for these Moments will not include any footage seen in any other Moments this season.
NBA Honors will also make a return in the Rare tier for the All-Rookie 1st and 2nd teams and All-NBA 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team awardees. The rookies in the NBA Honors Set will be minted to /150 while the mint counts for the All-NBA players will be minted to /250. These Moments will also not include any footage seen on other Moments in the season, including the rewards in the NBA Hardware Set.
b. FOR TEAM LEADERBOARDS:
At the end of the season, collectors ranking on the Team Leaderboard for each team will have a Year-in-Review Moment airdropped. These Moments will be team Moments, and may be distributed as Parallel rewards to collectors at different tiers.
3. LOCKED SET REWARDS
Completionism is a big part of the Top Shot experience. For the 2023-24 season, collectors with locked Sets from Series 4 will be airdropped Packs to corresponding Sets this series.
For example, collectors with a complete and locked Throwdowns Set for Series 4 will receive a Throwdowns Pack for this coming series. This season, rewards will be distributed on a rolling basis. Notice will be given each week around which Sets are eligible for an airdrop the following week.
For complete Series 4 Sets that don’t have a corresponding Set this series, collectors of that Set will have the opportunity to lock their Set to receive an airdrop from a comparable tier in the 2023-24 season.
Additionally, the following locked Sets from Series 1-3 will be rewarded with airdrops:
- All NBA Legendary Sets
- All NBA Metallic Gold LE Sets
- All NBA Base Sets
- All Run It Back Sets
- Cool Cats (Series 2)
More details will be shared on a rolling basis.
Getting rewarded for completing Sets doesn’t stop there, however, as there’s a ton of incentive for completing an upcoming premium Set on Top Shot.
THE SEASON OF EXPERT CHALLENGES
During this NBA regular season, we will have 4 Rare Sets (Metallic Gold LE, Video Game Numbers, For the Win, and Throwdowns) and 3 Legendary Sets that have Expert Challenges associated with them.
Here’s how they work:
There will be a series of Challenges following Pack drops at the Rare and Legendary tiers. Expert Challenges will come toward the end of the regular season after all of the drops from a Set have wrapped. These Expert Challenges will require collectors to lock ALL of the Moments from the Set – Challenge Rewards included – in order to earn an exclusive Expert Challenge Reward, minted to the exact number of completions in that Set. Locking a complete Set with an Expert Challenge Reward will bring an additional perk that we’ll share more about in an upcoming announcement.
SCARCITY AT THE HIGH END
When we introduce new Rare and Legendary Moments via drops this season, there will be regular opportunities for collectors to utilize their existing Rare and Legendary Moments via burning to update their collection. We believe that providing utility to older Moments is a win for collectors who choose to update their collection and those who choose to hold on to their Moments. We began making this a core part of our summer strategy and are excited to extend this approach through the regular season, where collectors will be able to enjoy the benefits of these opportunities consistently.
A NEW WAY TO PLAY
We’re bringing a brand new way to follow the NBA action, tying your collection to real-life NBA performances more naturally than ever before, with key learnings from the past to inform a more sustainable and better game design for the future. Community testing for this game will begin shortly, and you’ll see more chatter very soon. If you’d like to be considered for early access to this experience, email mailbag@nbatopshot.com with the subject line “I WANT IN” and we’ll gradually add more collectors to our waitlist for testing.
It’s going to be an incredible season as we continue to prioritize and focus on making NBA Top Shot the best sports collectible in the world.
