The National Basketball Association (NBA) is to develop a digital collectibles-based fantasy basketball game with European non-fungible token (NFT) platform Sorare.
The U.S. basketball league and its players’ union, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), announced a multi-year partnership with the Paris-based company in a statement on its website. Sorare becomes the “Official NFT Fantasy Partner” of the NBA.
The fantasy game will involve users creating a lineup of NFT-based collectibles representing NBA star players who earn points based on their real-life performances. The game will be released in time for the 2022-23 season in October.
The NBA becomes the latest top sports league to partner with Sorare following Major League Baseball (MLB) in July. Germany’s top-tier soccer league Bundesliga and La Liga, the Spanish equivalent, tapped Sorare’s NFT capabilities last year.
Sorare, which develops NFT-based sports games with licenses from major leagues and teams, claims to have 2 million registered users across 185 countries.
The NBA’s digital asset-related activities are already well established through digital collectibles platform Top Shot, where users purchase highlights from games on the Flow blockchain. Sales on Top Shot eclipsed $1 billion in May.
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