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**UPDATED MARCH 24, 2021**
To see how “First Moment” or “First Appearance on Top Shot” Badges will work, check out this post.
Rookie Badges were announced in mid-January 2021 by NBA Top Shot.
To understand Rookie Badges, first thing you need to do is completely ignore the “Rookie Debut” Set. Yes, this set features Rookies, but the Badges are going to be applied to both the moments in that set AND other ones. So let’s ignore it for now.
Are these badges important? Yes, they are. They will be applied sometime in March 2021, and will appear on the players’ moments. Although many people have already bought the moments with the badges in mind, the visual aspect will likely further amplify the value of the moments (especially as this year’s rookies develop).
There are 3 badges.
BADGE #1: ROOKIE YEAR
If the moment features that player in their Rookie Year, then they will get the “Rookie Year” badge. For example, all Zion Williamson moments in 2019-2020, and all Lamelo Ball moments in 2020-21.
This will also apply to the Run It Back moments from the 2013-14 season, including GIannis and Victor Oladipo (although these retro moments might have a slightly different designation).
BADGE #2: ROOKIE YEAR MINT
This applies to moments minted (as in printed on Top Shot) ONLY in the player’s rookie year. So naturally, those same Zion and Lamelo moments will also get this badge, but Giannis/Victor will not since their moments were not made during the 2013-14 season.
BADGE #3: ROOKIE PREMIERE (FIRST GAME)
This will only apply to a moment from a player’s first game. This will apply to the 2020-21 rookies who are capped at /4000 moment count, since the moments are from their first games (Lamelo, Wiseman, etc.). However, if a new moment is minted of that same player from a game later in the season, it will not receive this badge (ex: a Lamelo game from February 2021).
In the 2019-20 season, only RJ Barrett’s moments from October 23, 2019 will receive this badge.
If you want to dig into the ownership details, our own GregMurray made these handy charts:
