NBA Enters Sports NFT; Will Launch Fantasy Basketball Game

The National Basketball Association (NBA) plans to jump on the sports NFT craze in a recent partnership with Sorare. Sports NFTs are witnessing a surge in interest from top brands and personalities. Following top rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem’s BAYC MTV performance, NBA is the latest to give attention to NFTs.

Fans can create Sports NFTs of players and teams

In a recent press release Wednesday, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) disclosed a partnership with digital collectible fantasy football game developer Sorare. The aim of the partnership is to develop an NFT-based fantasy Basketball game.

The game will give fans the opportunity to create digital representations of their favorite players and teams in the form of sports NFTs. These NFT-based collectibles will earn fans points based on the real-life performances of their players and teams. The partnership further gives Sorare rights to NBA team logos, to use in its products.

Per the media release, Sorare and the NBA will launch the free-to-play game this fall, just in time for the 2022-23 season.

With Sorare’s emerging NFT fantasy platform, we see significant opportunities to broaden our community of fans and grow NBA basketball around the world,

said Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner.

Sports NFTs are rising in adoption

Nicolas Julia, co-founder and CEO of Sorare, acknowledged the significance of the partnership for basketball fans and the NBA. Julia noted that the game is likely to bring basketball fans closer to their favourite teams and players.

…our game gives basketball fans the ultimate sports entertainment experience, where they can play like a general manager, own their game, and foster real-world connections,

he added.

Adrien Montfort and Nicolas Julia developed Sorare in 2018. The project is a blockchain-based game that gives football fans the ability to trade digital collectibles representing their favourite players and teams. It is built on the Ethereum blockchain. The concept is getting the attention of the sports industry, as noticed from the recent NBA partnership.

Additionally, last month, Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund (BVB) made Sorare a premium partner in a contract between both entities. Much earlier – in October of 2021 – Bundesliga International entered into a major sports NFT deal with Sorare.