NBA Star NFT Sells for $187,000 on Sorare

The single edition non-fungible token (NFT) of professional basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo was sold for 113.9 ETH ($187,000) on Sorare NBA over the weekend.

• Sorare NBA is a licensed NFT-driven fantasy basketball game, and the sale set a new milestone, being the platform’s highest single transaction since its launch in October 2022.
• The 1/1 Antetokounmpo NFT was auctioned through Sorare NBA’s Ethereum-based platform. The sale price of the NFT was thrice the price of the previous sale, which was an Anthony Davis NFT sold for 49 ETH (more than $62,000) in December.
• Aside from his single edition sale on Sorare, Antetokounmpo NFTs have been sold for high prices in previous years.
• In February 2021, Antetokounmpo recorded an on-chain sale of $95,000 on NBA Top Shot on the Flow blockchain. To date, the transaction is the 16th largest Top Shot sale. The sale is also the largest-known one of the basketball icon.
• Despite the Antetokounmpo NFT sale breaking the previous Sorare NBA record, it does not come close to trading card deals.
• In September 2020, an autographed Giannis Antetokounmpo rookie card was sold for roughly $1.8 million. As of then, the transaction set the record for the highest-sold basketball trading card.
• Meanwhile, the record-breaking sale comes as the wider crypto space is recovering from an intense crypto winter that has driven NFT prices down.
• Despite the unfavorable condition of the crypto market last year, data from DappRadar showed that NFT sales increased by 67%. CryptoPotato reported that 101 million NFTs were sold in 2022, which is significantly higher than the volumes of previous years.