Pelicans' Josh Hart Offers Blazers' McCollum Advice About NBA Top Shot

The NBA Top Shot phenomenon is apparently growing among players.

New Orleans Pelicans guard Josh Hart reached out to CJ McCollum via Twitter, saying he'll help the Blazers star out as he attempts to break into Top Shot.

Hart has been one of the most active players in pushing Top Shot, which is a virtual marketplace that allows users to trade, buy and sell basketball highlights. The NBA and NBPA are partnered with Dapper Labs, the company that founded Top Shot. 

B/R's Sean Highkin recently profiled the company: 

"Developed by Vancouver-based Dapper Labs, the company behind the popular CryptoKitties game, Top Shot 'moments' like Settleman's James dunk are essentially virtual sports cards, folding short highlight clips into a package with 3D animations and player stats. They utilize blockchain technology, which is the backbone of the cryptocurrency world, to ensure transparency in production and verify the authenticity of these digital collectibles, known as NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

"Copies of a specific Top Shot moment are given a serial number to indicate how many are produced. Lower serial numbers are considered more valuable, along with serials that match the player's jersey number (Settleman bought the No. 23 serial copy of the James dunk, for example). Different runs are given names like 'Cosmic,' 'Holo' and 'Metallic Gold,' just like limited-edition physical trading cards."

The burgeoning company has had fans flocking to their servers over new releases, and the attention being paid by NBA players will only further its reach while still in a public beta phase.