NBA Top Shot has big plans for All-Star Weekend. The digital sports collectable that’s seen a meteoric rise in popularity this NBA season is using the Association’s showcase in Atlanta to drop new packs, including a planned series featuring moments from the All-Star Game itself.
The platform’s big plans started on Wednesday, when NBA Top Shot was used to announce the rosters of the Rising Stars game, which won’t actually take place over the pandemic-limited All-Star Weekend. That announcement also came with news that Top Shot would release a Rising Stars-themed set, with plans to drop that on Saturday, the day before the All-Star Game itself.
ICYMI: In tandem with the @NBA & @TheNBPA, we announced the 2021 #NBAAllStar Rising Stars roster on NBA Top Shot
More details: https://t.co/5L3fKiLW24 pic.twitter.com/Bm7Hvy5uly
— NBA Top Shot (@nba_topshot) March 4, 2021
“Unveiling the 2021 Stars rosters on NBA Top Shot and dropping a pack that includes hand-picked moments for each of the players was an opportunity to celebrate the league’s young talent during NBA All-Star in a year when scheduling limitations prevented the Rising Stars game from being played,” Adrienne O’Keeffe, NBA associate vice president of Global Partnerships told Dime by email. “It’s just one example of how NBA Top Shot can provide NBA fans with new ways to connect with the league.”
But the anticipation of that drop would have to wait a bit: On Thursday, NBA Top Shot announced it would also have a three-drop series dedicated to players that made Sunday’s All-Star Game. The drop, called Seeing Stars, features 26 Moments from the 2020-21 regular season from players selected to participate in the All-Star Game in Atlanta.
NBA Top Shot Community
To commemorate the #NBAAllStar Game & to celebrate the weekend festivities in advance, we’ve put together an all-new set called Seeing Stars
More info: https://t.co/AlfPo8Mbqf pic.twitter.com/rkh31mf3ev
— NBA Top Shot (@nba_topshot) March 4, 2021
This drop will be a bit different than in the past, though: collectors will be limited to one pack each, but the drop will take place at three different times over a two-day period. The first drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST on Thursday, with another drop set for Friday at noon EST and a final set for 8 p.m. EST.
The bad news for anyone not already in the ecosystem: Top Shot is likely to disable new signups before these pack drops, both to limit stress on the website itself but also in an effort to limit the potential for bots to overrun the queue and tip the scales in fairness for these releases. The company has been working in recent weeks to have collectors with multiple accounts combine them as well as ban bots to limit these pack drops to one per collector.
If you’re out of luck this weekend, there’s more All-Star Game packs on the way. O’Keeffe told Dime that another All-Star Game pack is scheduled to drop “later this month” that features moments from the All-Star Game action on Sunday. That means you should expect seeing a lot of the #NBATopShotThis hashtag on Twitter on Sunday night.