I recently started a new hobby, collecting NBA Basketball NFTs.

NBA Topshot
For those of you not familiar with NBA Topshot, the NBA was one of the major organizations that embraced the developments in the NFT space and created NBA Topshot Moments, digital collectible NFTs featuring different plays during the NBA Season. The Moments are minted by Dapperlabs, which uses the NBA Topshots website to sell digital packs, just like the traditional NBA trading card packages.

The HOLO ICON Legendary Pack dropped on April 12, 2021. The pack ($999 per pack) sold out instantly.

Today NBA Topshot launched the HOLO ICON (DROP 2) pack, which is considered a legendary pack, as every pack features at least one legendary Limited Edition moment. The price was a hefty $999 per pack, but the 2000+ available packs sold out instantly.

The HOLO ICON (DROP 2) pack

The HOLO ICON (2) pack details

The pack was a rather large pack (compared to the base packs), featuring a total of 10 moments:
1x Legendary Holo Icon moment
3x Rare Metallic Gold Limited Edition moments
6x Base set moments

Each pack has one legendary moment, meaning only 99 versions/serial numbers will ever be minted. With the value of NFTs being related to the scarcity as well, these moments are considered unicorns in the NBA Topshot world, often being sold for over at least $3000 a piece, if they were actually would be made available for sale.

Each pack does also includes 3 rare moments, of which only 499 versions/serials will ever be minted. The NBA NFTs are still quite rare, as most base moments have 35.000 versions minted. 35.000 editions of an NFT might sound as much, but we do have to keep in mind that there are already over 350.000 active NBA Topshot collectors. And we are just getting started.

To make the buying process fair, NBA Topshot works with a queue for these kinds of drops, giving everyone that joins the drop in a certain timeframe before the drop a random place in the queue. As there have been 300.000+ people in the queue the last time, there were some requirements to be eligible for this drop. Collectors needed to have at least 15 moments in their collection, or already possess 2 rare moments or 1 legendary one. Luckily, I'd already collected 22 moments, so I was eligible to join.

A screenshot of 4 of my 22 moments.

I joined the queue today not really knowing what to expect and also wondering what I would do if I was eligible for the pack because I wasn't really ready to sell my Hive, LEO, or CTP, which I would probably have to do to be able to pay for the pack.

To make the drop more fun, NBA Topshot has a livestream for each drop, where the hosts often interview active and retired NBA players to share their experience so far. The best part of this project is that not only the NBA, but also the NBA Players Union is involved.

So did I get a pack?

As of now, I'm still in the queue, not for a legendary pack, that has been sold out for hours now, but NBA Topshot is rewarding us with the opportunity to buy a base pack for $9.

I won't be able to share to content of the pack today, but I will do once I've opened it.

If you got excited, feel free to visit https://nbatopshot.com/ to create your own NBA Topshot account.

#lobi

@jeanlucsr