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Note: This article was previously titled “What’s Up With the @NBATopShot Account on Top Shot?“
EDIT: On April 30th, 2021, the plan for the release of these Moments was published by NBA Top Shot. Read about it here.
Here it is: @NBATopShot. 16,391 Moments total.
During last Friday’s Top Shot Office Hours, the Community Lead Jacob mentioned the plan to release the remaining Series 1 Moments—many of which are housed in the infamous @NBATopShot Top Shot account—would be revealed sometime in April 2021.
And if you hang out on Top Shot as much as I do, you have no doubt noticed the existence of this account (and likely questioned its purpose and/or ownerships). You have probably also noticed that it has an enormous account value, more than 2nd place Whaleshark.
The story of the @NBATopShot Account on NBA Top Shot has a simple motive but a complex history.
Simple: From what we’ve learned, it exists to house unreleased moments from Series 1 that were left in unsold packs (but not ECF of WCF set) or simply never packaged up for release.
Complex: The methodology for selecting these moments is very clear in some instances, but unclear in others. We know some of them were from unreleased packs and challenge rewards, but there are many in here that were minted but never put in packs.
So with their release (potentially) imminent, let’s dive in.
What Are the Moments?
We learned from a January 31st Blog Post that Top Shot will not be able to release these moments in Series 2 packs.
That post also revealed the list below of LE moments that have a relatively large percentage of their supply locked in the Top Shot account.
Thing is, that list only counts 9,701. What about the other 6,690 Moment in the account?
These outliers are largely a scattered bunch of unsold Got Game (not on the list above), unsold Early Adopters, unsold Cali vs. NY, and quite a few Giannis MGLE Series 1. And it should be noted: many are high mint numbers.
Notably:
- Cali vs NY
- Mints #1-30
- Players: Bamba, Dinwiddie, Drummond, Green, Holiday, Huerter, Paschall, Powell, Wright
- In some cases, the account also has higher mints of these players. For example #842-1000 of Mo Bamba.
- Early Adopters
- Mints #1-30
- Players: Conley, Fultz, Hart, Huerter, Porzingis, Satoranksy, Sexton, Towns
- Also featured: some low mints of Randle (#12-30) and Sexton (#8-30 + #1076)
- Got Game
- Mints #1-30
- Players: Bamba, Marjanovic, Brown Jr, House Jr, Jackson, Jordan, KCP, Lavine, Lee, Mitchell, Murray, Nance Jr, Nurkic, Payne, Russell, Smart, Zubac.
- Giannis MGLE
- Mints #1-46
- Mints #167-299
Looking back on some of the Series 1 Premium Pack Drops, it does not look like the Giannis MGLE was often in those released. So looks like we *might* have a MVP-level MGLE coming our way!
Unreleased Challenge Rewards
On top of the Common Moments, there are also approximately 3,750 Challenge Rewards amongst the 6,690 non-listed Moments.
See, back in Series 1 (and in some case Series 2), the general rule given by the Top Shot team was that there would be a minimum mint total of Challenge Rewards for each Edition Size. So naturally, if too few collectors finished the Challenge, there would be extra Rewards made and held in the Top Shot account.
- Legendary = 25 mint minimum
- Rare = 150 mint minimum
- Common = 1000 mint minimum
As a result, there are many Series 1 Rewards in the account, including:
- Common Rewards (3,012).
- GOT GAME: x778 Malcolm Brogdon
- GOT GAME: x743 R.J. Barrett
- GOT GAME: x715 Devonte Graham
- GOT GAME: x776 Lonzo Ball
DOWNLOAD THE CHART ABOVE HERE
- Legendary Rewards (20)
- HOLO MMXX: Chris Paul #20-25
- HOLO MMXX: Paul George #21-25
- HOLO MMXX: Trae Young #25
- HOLO MMXX: Ja Morant #25
- FROM THE TOP: James Harden #19-25
- Rare Rewards (718).
- METALLIC GOLD: x434 Rewards including Embiid, Irving, Caruso, Lavine, etc.
- ROOKIE DEBUT: x3 Zion, x11 Porter Jr, x1 Thybulle
- DENIED: x27 Javale McGee
- FIRST ROUND: x45 Nikola Jokic
- CONFERENCE SEMI FINALS: x3 OG Anunoby
- EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: x3 Tyler Herro
- WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: x3 Anthony Davis
- FOR THE WIN: x57 Derrick Rose
- SO FRESH: x24 Devin Booker
- THROWDOWNS: x50 Russell Westbrook, x40 Demar Derozan
- WITH THE STRIP: x16 Ja Morant
DOWNLOAD THE CHART ABOVE HERE
What Happens Now?
EDIT: On April 30th, 2021, the plan for the release of these Moments was published by NBA Top Shot. Read about it here. These theories are now obsolete.
As noted at the top of this article, there was a brief update given in Office Hours on April 2nd that there would be a plan put forward in the month of April. This is an extremely exciting proposition considering the potential high value of these moments and their rarity.
So what could be in this plan?
Note: Everything below is pure speculation and in no way based on accurate facts provided by NBA Top Shot.
Possibility 1: Pack Drop
It would make sense to release MANY of these moments in a pack drop, especially the Common Moments. To spread the love, each pack could even be limited to just one Moment. However, releasing the x20 Legendary and almost x900 Rares alongside the Common Moments may go against the rules established by Dapper.
Possibility 2: Raffle
We did see a raffle for Cool Cats 1 Packs, so this option is not totally crazy. And given the rumours about more pack drop restrictions in the near future, it would make sense to create Collector-restrictions for something like a Series 1 Moment Raffle. For example, raffle-eligible accounts would have to have completed a certain amount of marketplace activity or challenges.
Possibility 3: Showcase Contest
If you’ve been here long enough, you may remember the days when there were Showcase Contests and the winners would score packs (and participants got Dapper bucks!). A new showcase contest would definitely yield enough entries to distribute all 16k+ Moments.
Possibility 4: Reward for Past Challenges
Although a controversial idea, it’s not impossible for this to happen. The release of the Mike Conley-narrated Reward could be an indication that completing Challenges can in fact benefit Collectors in other ways than just the Reward Moment.
Time will tell what actually does happen. But these Series 1 Moments are quite juicy, and that’s without even having to mention that there are 1,300 Lebron James Moments in here (just about 8% of the account).
We’ll find out soon enough.
