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- Deal includes creative and sponsorship content on The Boardroom
- NBA star will create bespoke Top Shot tokens for fans to trade
- More than US$780m transactions have been recorded on platform so far
National Basketball Association (NBA) star Kevin Durant and his manager Rich Kleiman have agreed a wide-ranging partnership with Dapper Labs to promote its NBA Top Shot non-fungible token (NFT) platform.
NBA Top Shot offers basketball fans the opportunity to buy and sell NFT collectibles of moments in the league’s history, with blockchain’s distributed ledger technology used to authenticate each individual token.
The venture has been a successful one for Dapper Laps, with the Top Shot marketplace witnessing US$780 million worth of transactions. Some tokens have sold for as much as US$210,000.
The Canadian-based firm recently raised US$250 million in funding, giving it a valuation of US$7.6 billion, and has agreed deals with La Liga and with the National Football League (NFL) to create a similar version of Top Shot for their respective fans.
These partnerships with major rights holders have helped Dapper Labs to stand out in an increasingly crowded, but still nascent, market for NFTs. It is hoped that the two-year deal with Durant and Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures, which includes their The Boardroom media brand, will raise awareness and provide creative inspiration for the Top Shot platform so it can maintain its market lead.
The Boardroom will host Top Shot related content, giveaways, fan to fan trading, behind-the-scenes previews, and traditional sponsorship activities, while Durant will create bespoke Top Shot moments and video content.
“From the moment we met with Kevin and Rich, it was clear that we shared a passion to bring fans closer than ever and in the most epic ways to their favourite athletes,” said Dapper Labs chief executive Roham Gharegozlou. “As [Durant] continues to put his stamp on game-changing moments, we’re able to offer fans access to him in entirely new ways and cement NBA Top Shot’s place at the centre of the fan experience.”
“Top Shot is the future for basketball fans, bringing them closer to players and building community across the sport in new and innovative ways,” added Durant. “At The Boardroom, we’ve also been at the forefront of the NFT space, and I’m excited to partner in advancing NFTs further into the mainstream, creating and curating exclusive moments and content with Top Shot.”
