A collectible star during the pandemic is back. At least for a day.
NBA Top Shot, which soared in popularity by selling one-of-one NFT highlights and reached 1 million registered users in 2021, recorded one of the biggest sales in its history.
An auction of a Top Shot highlight from Victor Wembanyama's debut ended at $145,000. A record of the transaction was posted on the blockchain at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The digital collectible was purchased by Twitter user @BilloBank, a Wembanyama collector in Los Angeles. Nine other collectors submitted bids of more than $75,000 for the montage of highlights from the San Antonio Spurs star's first NBA game.
The price represents the fifth-largest sale in Top Shot’s marketplace. All the others were LeBron James highlights, all purchased in between February and August of 2021.
In 2021, NBA Top Shot sales were $920 million, according to market tracking site Cryptoslam. That number dropped to $260 million in sales in 2022 and $40 million in 2023. With bitcoin flying, sales are on pace in 2024 to edge last year’s totals.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.