Russell Westbrook becomes first Washington Wizards player featured in a NBA Top Shot Event Challenge Reward

If you haven’t hopped on the hype train and joined the NBA Top Shot community, now is the time to come aboard.

NBA Top Shot, a digital NBA trading card collecting platform that features a highlight clip (known as “moments”) of a player, has listed Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook as its latest reward for its fourth Cool Cats Event Challenge

The Westbrook challenge reward moment features his go-ahead three against the Brooklyn Nets, a play in which Garrison Matthews stole an inbound pass and immediately found Westbrook open for the go-ahead. This came right after Bradley Beal hit a huge three-pointer from near midcourt to bring the Wizards within two.

The Wizards erased a five-point lead in the final 12 seconds to knock off the new-look Nets, albeit without James Harden.

What exactly are NBA Top Shot moments, and how can I get my hands on one featuring Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards?

Top Shot is an NBA and NBPA licensed NFT, or non-fungible token, platform owned and operated by Dapper Labs, an NFT company known for another NFT platform Crypto Kitties. Top Shot utilizes blockchain technology to allow collectors to buy, own, and sell digital trading cards. Each NFT is a digital file with its own unique identity that cannot be replaced. Blockchain is a database that stores the information behind the NFT collectible, such as the serial number, the person(s) who have bought the card from packs, or the marketplace. Blockchain features timestamps of each transaction made.

For collectors to attain the Westbrook challenge reward, collectors must collect 10 specific moment cards, including the five unique Cool Cats moments from the Cool Cats 5 drop, and hold them until the event timer is complete. The five unique moments are Jrue Holiday, Chris Paul, Bogdan Bogdonavic, Christian Wood, and Gordon Hayward, all of whom have limited edition serial numbers.

Once the event is completed, the exact number of Westbrook moments to be minted will equal the number of people who have completed the challenge, meaning that the moment will never be sold in packs.

The status of the moment cards are broken down using tier levels: common, rare, legendary, and (soon to come) ultimate. Status can also be indicated by the serial number of the moment cards, which indicate the order in which they were minted. Lower mint serial numbers have a higher value as well as serial numbers that match the featured player’s jersey number. Player badges such as Rookie Premiere, Rookie Mint, Rookie Year, and Top Shot Debut can be assigned to moments, as well as the sets the cards come in, such as the aforementioned Cool Cats sets.

Challenges usually last about a week and have collectors collecting between 9 to 14 cards.

If you want to see who had a chance to snag Russell Westbrook, you will. As collectors build out their collections, they can display them in showcases for others in the community to see. Top Shot allows users to easily check out top collectors and search for other collectors and see their friends’ collections.

For those that won’t get a chance to complete the challenge, don’t fret. You will have a chance to purchase the moment at the marketplace where collectors can buy and sell moments. The marketplace is often used to buy the cards needed to obtain challenge rewards, as pack drops are often limited in distribution.