Back on Feb. 22, Oklahoma City Thunder big Isaiah Roby came across a Tweet of a fan saying he had gotten Roby’s dunk over Nikola Vucevic as an NBA Top Shot moment. Roby responded that he’d like to get connected to these highlights.
He might get his chance sooner than later. The second-year Thunder player threw down a poster dunk over 7-foot-1 center Jakob Poeltl on Thursday night in the 107-102 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
In transition, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander flicked a pass to Theo Maledon, who received the ball and glanced back at the free throw line to the trailing Roby. There was nothing but space between him and Poeltl.
A moment too late, Poeltl decided to make a business decision and move out of the way — but by then, he was already caught in the air.
Isaiah Roby TO THE RACK 💥@okcthunder 81@spurs 84 pic.twitter.com/rGlPH7qzZ4
— NBA (@NBA) March 5, 2021
Take a look at another couple angles:
The dunk contest might be later this weekend but Isaiah Roby wasn't playing with this one. (via @okcthunder) pic.twitter.com/Oy9jNKtVad
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 5, 2021
So, yeah. A very nice dunk, one that can compete with Darius Bazley for the Thunder’s best dunk of the past week.
That takes us to NBA Top Shot, video highlights created by blockchain technology. It’s like a combination of trading cards and cryptocurrency that gives the owner property rights to a highlight card. (See For The Win for a more comprehensive breakdown).
“My understanding is, it’s kind of like trading cards but video playback,” Roby said. “If it’s something that’s going to continue to be as big as it is right now, the way it’s going up right now, I definitely want to get involved — I think I saw a LeBron Top Shot go for a couple hundred thousand dollars.”
The Athletic reported on Feb. 15 that there had been almost $70 million in sales. A week later, USA TODAY reported that there were more than $37 million in sales over a single 24-hour period on Feb. 22.
It’s definitely ballooning.
Roby said he needs to learn more about the program before putting money into it.
“I still don’t totally understand it, and I like to learn about stuff before I get invested in it,” he said. “But shoot, who knows.”
