What is NBA Top Shot?

NBA Top Shot is an NFT marketplace where sports fans can buy, sell and trade basketball video clips. Launched in 2020, NBA Top Shot is a partnership between the NBA and Dapper Labs, the creators of CryptoKitties. High-profile investors include the NBA legends Michael Jordan, Kevin Durrant and Klay Thompson.

NBA Top Shot runs off the FLOW blockchain which is a high-performance blockchain specifically for creating NFTs, massive crypto games, and apps. Unlike general-purpose blockchains such as Ethereum, Flow is built to efficiently scale for potentially billions of people interacting with NFTs like in-game items.

Methodology:

In this dashboard we will take a closer look into NBA Top Shots and what specific components are generating the most sales and volume. We will be looking at total sales and volume and then the two categories of ‘Play Type’ and ‘Team’. Certain teams and play types will generate more activity and NFT sales. These metrics should help Top Shot to increase development of certain types of NFTs than others.

Play Type:

Team:

Observations:

From the data above, the ‘Rim’ play type is by far the most popular nft taking up 40.6% of total sales and 36.5% of total volume. The next most popular category is 3 pointer which is followed closely by assists. There have been about 128k sales of the ‘Rim’ nfts and just over 3 million in volume. When observing the sals and volume of the play types over time ‘Rim’ is again above all other play types for a majority of the graph. However this trend begins to fade around the beginning of June, and other play types start to close the gap between ‘Rim.’ It is possible that the overall decrease in sales and site popularity reduced the difference between play types.

It is also peculiar that the ‘Dunk/Layup’ play type ranks as the least popular play type on the platform given that Dunks and Layups are one of the most exhilarating parts of basketball. This also doesn’t make sense when comparing this data to the Top Shot website as Dunk play types have been selling at the highest price. The ‘Rim’ play type must be including plays that are Dunks and Layups and

Observations:

The top eight or so teams appear to dominant the Top shot market. The Golden State Warriors are by far the most popular team with the most sales, 37.7k, and volume, 1.22 million. The next team with the highest sales is the Boston Celtics, and the next team with the highest volume is the Los Angles Lakers. The teams with the highest sales and volume mirror team that performed well in the recent NBA season or are teams with big superstar players.

Conclusion:

• Play type and Team are two factors that have clear impacts on the number of sales and volume of sales on Top Shot
• ‘Rim’ play types are by far the most popular play type and The Golden State Warriors are the most popular team
• Activity on Top Shot has decreased as the crypto market declined and the NBA season concluded. When the season is session and basketball is more popular it is easier to decipher factors that drive sales.

Observations:

There is a very noticeable decline in sales and volume since mid April. This corresponds with the NBA playoffs and season wrapping up and people not being as interested in the NBA. There has been a recent small surge starting around late June which is likely linked to the recent growth in the Crypto market as a whole. I would anticipate an increase in sales and volume as the NBA seasons begins.