The Las Vegas NBA Summer League Diaries: Part One

Step foot outside in Las Vegas and it practically feels like you’re on the surface of the sun, but in the cool, comfortable, air-conditioned confines of the Thomas & Mack Center, a different feeling takes over.

Not the feeling of a half-empty frozen margarita in a comically large plastic souvenir cup coursing through your bloodstream — something more fulfilling and organic than that.

It’s the feeling of unbridled, unfiltered, pure, straight from the tap enthusiasm. NBA Top Shot didn’t just make history today by making it possible to pre-buy a Moment from a game you actually attended live while on-site; they also managed to make a booth exciting.

Trust me, if you’ve ever been to a conference or big event, you can know how dull these things can be, and this was far from dull. It was a destination. It was the trending topic of the day, and I don’t need an algorithm to tell me that because I felt it and heard it at every turn.

While there were 8+ consecutive hours of NBA Summer League action taking place across two courts featuring the most promising rookies and sophomores in the NBA, it honestly felt like everyone was there for Top Shot, whether they realized it or not.

Maybe it’s just the energy and sense of possibility that pulsates through every inch of Las Vegas, or a speculative prediction based on recent activations and events hosted by the NBA Top Shot team, but it really feels like the big picture is starting to take shape in a way that is going to change fandom forever.

If you think the experience of opening a pack is fun on your phone at home, or in a Twitch live stream, try doing it on a 70-inch screen with surround sound speakers surrounded by dozens of other NBA fans.

All-day long, for hours upon hours, existing collectors from around the country and NBA fans learning about NBA Top Shot for the first time were able to buy new “Fandom tier” Moments, as well as a Common Base Set pack, and even redeem some fresh NBA Top Shot merch.

The line moved fast and was constantly replenishing itself with new people taking advantage of this first-of-its-kind opportunity, with Sacramento Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton stopping by to pick up the new Moments and soak in the energy too.

On the court, a non-stop frenzy of action, with eight games happening Sunday, August 8, and 14 more lined up for Monday and Tuesday, which accounts for the duration of my Vegas adventure with NBA Top Shot collectors and team members. As exciting as all the basketball truly is, while also being a little unpolished and rough around the edges at times — young players finding their footing and playing together for the first time can do that — there was something better than the on-court action that happened today.

We got to be together in real life, doing what we love. For the first time, because of Top Shot, I got to meet dozens of collectors whom I’d previously only known online as avatars and Twitter handles.

Whether they had won a trip from the official contest or just decided to fly out to witness history and spend some time in Vegas, we were all hanging out and watching basketball and having fun, trading Top Shot stories and learning about our lives beyond that, and it really made me realize how much I’ve missed spending time with other people outside of my own family and tight-knit circle of friends.

The community that has existed online for months and months, trading DMs and chatting in Discords, is finally starting to spread its wings and connect outside of the Metaverse and the apps on our phones.

We’re just scratching the surface of what “Collecting Together” really means, and as NBA Top Shot pursues its mission to be the future of fandom, today it finally hit me that it will mean getting to experience Knicks games with tons of other Knicks fans who also happen to be Top Shot collectors.

What happened in Phoenix and Brooklyn, and is happening now in Las Vegas, is just the start of a long and exciting application of “utility” for our NBA NFT collections that was sidelined due to the pandemic for so long.

Collecting what we love is going to unlock new relationships and experiences that we’d never have otherwise. I’m so happy that I got a taste of that today. I can’t wait to see what surprises the next two days have in store, but I’m even more excited for a not-so-distant future where everyone reading this post can reap the benefits of their collection and passion too.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go play some roulette.

You can follow my Las Vegas experience live on Twitter if you aren’t already. Here’s more from Packrip Media at NBA Summer League:

Thanks for tuning in! See you at the next pack drop.