How LaMelo Ball made millions from his NFTs: ‘Nobody’s done it this way’

Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball has had a terrific month. 

Not only did the 19-year-old win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award and headline the All-Rookie First Team, he became the first athlete to launch a dynamic NFT (and made a ton of money as a result).

For those who don’t know, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are essentially digital collectibles. And a dynamic NFT is a digital collectible that can evolve and unlock additional perks based on real-world events. In Ball’s case, his dynamic NFTs are tied to his NBA stats and achievements. 

Ball has the third-best-selling athlete NFT of all-time, behind only Patrick Mahomes and Rob Gronkowski. Mahomes and Gronk launched their NFTs in March, when the market peaked. In the months since, LaMelo’s NFT has been the top seller in the sports space, beating out NFTs from Floyd Mayweather, Damian Lillard and Major League Baseball among others.

Many athletes have released NFTs, but Ball found several ways to differentiate his. Not only is he the first athlete with dynamic NFTs, Ball attached real-life perks to his digital collectibles. LaMelo is giving away autographed memorabilia, 500 NBA tickets, his high-school championship ring and more, and anyone who bought one of his NFTs is entered to win. 

Because each token essentially serves as a raffle ticket for these giveaways, they appeal to all of his fans (even those who aren’t particularly interested in NFTs).

“Creating a community with as much reach as Melo’s, we’re using NFTs to segment his fans with token-specific perks and then rewarding those fans throughout his career to make a gamified experience like never before,” said Sher Chaudhary, the co-founder of Playground, the NFT design studio that’s working with Ball. 

There are four tiers of LaMelo’s NFTs: Red Mars, Blue Neptune, Silver Moon and Gold Sun. They are each tied to a different NBA stat or achievement.