- So next, we're gonna talk about money.
Now obviously, money is important to all of us here.
It's the way that we feed our families.
But I'm used to money a little different
than where you guys are starting to get used to money.
Looking ahead at the next 25 years,
let's talk about this cryptocurrency.
We're gonna look at Tyrese first. - [Obi Toppin laughing]
- We know, we talk about NFTs.
When we talk about this world,
you're the first name that come up, Tyrese.
Tell us how you got involved in this space
and teach me something, man.
I don't—I don't know a lot. - We need your free knowledge.
- My older brother, Tanner,
he told me about NBA Top Shot.
And he was like, it's basically virtual trading cards.
And I kind of blew him off.
I'm like, "Bruh, that sounds terrible."
Like, I like physical things. - Yeah. Right.
- You know what I'm saying?
And then, I was bored in my hotel room.
We was in Chicago and I tweeted something like,
"Dang, I missed the boat on Top Shot."
Like, "My moment went up $5" or whatever.
Went to a team meeting, came back.
It was up like 50. I was like— - Ohhh.
[All laughing] - [Haliburton:] I was like— - He just said, "Ohhh."
- [Haliburton:] Then from there, I became obsessed with this stuff.
- NBA Top Shot was a substantial catalyst
to why NFTs are popular today.
I'm Gary Vaynerchuk.
I'm the CEO of VaynerX and an entrepreneur.
It was incredibly commercially successful.
Dapper Labs, and with Roham [Gharegozlou] leading,
did a phenomenal job with that product
and really captivated the sports card collecting community
to get excited about NFTs in a frictionless way.
The reason people are struggling with NFTs
is cause it's truly a profound new technology.
NFTs stand for non-fungible tokens.
And we're all bringing our internet brain to the blockchain.
The blockchain is a new technology, decentralized servers.
Nobody controls them.
Nobody owns them.
What that allows for is the ability to show ownership
of something that's digital.
Somebody may say, why does somebody want to do that?
But we do that all the time now.
When you think about NBA 2K
and you're buying some plus-ups for your players,
you own that now digitally.
And when you put the video game in
and you're playing 2K, 2K knows that,
and you're happy because you have a better team,
or something, or you're wearing cooler clothes,
but that's just in a closed environment.
The blockchain is the whole world,
the way the internet's the whole world.
- So someone like me who don't know a lot about it,
in my mind, you just have to get lucky.
Like, is it a science to picking NFTs?
Is it a, like—
tell me, how do I go and find and pick NFTs?
- [Haliburton:] So there's probably tens of thousands of NFTs
that release on a daily basis.
And probably like five of them are actually gonna hit.
- [Scottie Barnes:] What does hit, like, mean as in like an NFT?
Like, how much do you have to do to get into it?
Do you buy like a certain amount?
- Well, I mean, it just depends
on, like, the collection you like, right?
So if you really like something,
you can buy multiple of it.
And if you get in early enough
and you want to put
a certain amount of bread into it, go ahead.
But like, I'll show you, my biggest NFT success story
is Bored Ape.
I was getting tagged on Twitter to buy this
cuz people knew I was big in Top Shot.
So I bought it for two ethereum at the time,
which is four grand.
- [Toppin:] Two of what? - Two ethereum,
which is four grand at the time. - [Napheesa Collier:] That's so crazy.
- That's ETH? - Yeah.
- [All laughing] - [Collier:] That's crazy. - [Barnes:] You really gotta put your trust into it, though.
- [Haliburton:] And now it's, the minimum price for one Bored Ape is 100E.
- [Collier:] That's, like, $300,000. That's cra— - [Toppin:] So how much is that?
- Like $300,000. - [Haliburton:] Three hundred grand, yeah.
- [Barnes:] Yo. - So I'm up like, you know, two, almost three hundred bands off of that.
- [Collier:] That's…I can't believe you have a Bored Ape. - [Toppin:] Yeah, we'll talk later. - [Wade:] That's what I'm saying.
- [Haliburton:] And I put it on, I put it on my kicks. We played the Pelicans.
- [Wade:] Yeah, you did. - I put my Bored Ape on the kicks and that blew up.
- The reason NFTs are gonna work is they work more
like fashion than they do like Wall Street.
The NBA player today sits at the tippy-top
along with popular hip-hop artists and influencers on TikTok
as the most influential cultural beasts in our society.
When these players change their avatars,
people are going to follow.
They're gonna get excited.
What's lucky for the NFT space,
which is why I'm very bullish
in a 25-year window, is even in the first year.
there's less hysteria around that.
One year ago, any NBA player, not even an All-Star,
changing an avatar
to any NFT project, made the project move aggressively.
Luckily, people realized that's not a great way to think
about betting on a project.
Which is phenomenal
because almost always when you would see that,
unless a hundred other people in culture did the same thing,
you're gonna see a down trend.
- You hate to see athletes come in and like,
they call it, like, "pump and dump," where like you,
you buy an NFT, you tweet about it so it blows up,
and then you just sell it to make quick cash.
That's where athletes mess up.
People do that all the time.
And then your reputation in the community goes down
and then people don't care if you get in it,
you know what I'm saying?
You gotta be as genuine as possible because then
you'll get a lot of love.
And when the next NFT comes out,
people are gonna give you the tip on that.
And then you can just keep going from there and
keep making more money and help make everybody else money.
So that's the biggest thing is just the community
that gets behind it,
and as long as you're authentic and real about it, it's good.
- The problem with the word "community"
in the NFT space right now is that
almost everyone in the community is full of crap.
It's not a real community.
It's not like a being a Knicks fan.
Now what you have is 95 percent of people day trading
and the "community" word is being thrown up as a disguise
for people having short-term financial interest.
- [Collier:] It depends on too, like, what NFTs you buy.
Like, I bought an NFT and I tweeted it.
And then immediately, people are
like posting the NFTs that they have of the same one.
- Yeah. - Wow. - Like, people are following me
on different social medias.
Like, I'm in the Discord. They're like messaging on that.
It's like right away,
they kind of like bring you into that community.
You do kind of have to get lucky.
Like, that's so awesome
you have a Bored Ape.
But you don't know which one's gonna hit.
- Yeah. - And World of Women had kind of
picked up speed when I got one
and I just really liked, like, what the brand represented.
That's kind of what it is too.
Like, you see something, you like, you research it.
I like what they represented.
It's, like, women-owned.
They do a lot of stuff for abused women,
things like that.
And the art is really cool.
So I really liked it
and I bought it and now the floor is going up.
So I mean, hopefully it turns into Bored Ape.
I'm trying to be like you. - [Haliburton:] Yeah. [Laughing]
- I think that, I think you mentioned a great point too
that we didn't talk about. Like, NFTs with, like, utility?
That stuff matters.
- It's like some of them, they just do it to release to
make the money.
But like, the ones that are continuing to do well,
they do other things. Like World of Women,
I get other stuff
cuz I bought that one.
- [Haliburton:] Yes, exactly - Like Bored Ape, you get other stuff.
Those are the ones that you should watch out for
cause those are ones that are gonna do well.
- Right now, everyone's focused on, it has collectibility,
but there's a smart contract
and there's some utility that you can do with that.
I predict in 25 years,
everybody will realize NFTs really were utility
with a hint of collectibility.
- Can this be an NFT moment right here?
- [Collier:] Yeah, someone could— - Like, someone could buy NFT to have a seat
at this table right now, All-Star Weekend. - [Haliburton:] Yeah.
That could be the utility behind it. - [Collier:] Yeah.
- This could be one of the utilities?
- [Haliburton:] Yes. - [Collier:] Yup.
- [Haliburton:] You could create— you create your own utility through everything.
- [Collier:] Gary V. just dropped Flyfish.
Do you have one of those?
- [Haliburton:] Yeah, no, I don't have one. I didn't get one.
- Yeah. So you have to buy an NFT and he has a restaurant.
You can only get in the restaurant
if you have that NFT - [Wade:] If you have the NFT.
- [Collier:] Yeah.
- Unlike a country club
or the Soho House or things of that nature, it's an asset.
It's not like you're paying a
membership fee every year and that lets you in and fine.
No no. This is, you own the pass.
And let's say on Thursday, you went
and you were there the 19th time
and you've had enough of us.
You, like, literally can list it.
- So this space, this, this cryptocurrency, these NFTs,
this Metaverse, this entire world
that we all are being introduced to.
You say it's real.
Is it real enough
that we're gonna be taking our salaries in crypto?
- [Collier:] I asked for it, but they said no, we can't do it.
But I did ask for it.
- [Haliburton:] Really? - Yup.
- [Toppin:] And then didn't somebody, like,
I think Odell tried to get his salary.
- [Barnes:] I think he did it in bitcoin. - [Haliburton:] He did, he did.
He did.
- [Toppin:] He did. And then it went down.
It was like a big thing or something.
- [Haliburton:] Yeah, but it'll come back up.
It's all volatile. - [Barnes:] Yeah.
- [Haliburton:] Right? - [Toppin:] Yeah yeah.
But I think, me personally, I'd rather just get it in cash.
[All laughing]
But my biggest reason is
if you want to turn it into crypto, which is cool to me.
- Yeah. - Like, you know, it's volatile, right?
So if all these, all of our organizations
are gonna do is take our cash
and buy ethereum at a random time for a certain amount.
But if we get it in cash and we know we want to use it,
as soon as it falls, then we can buy it.
We can get more for ourselves.
You know what I'm saying?
So me personally, I would just,
I'm cool with just cash.
- [Wade:] You're cool with cash?
- Cash is king always.
- [Wade:] But you wanted yours in currency.
- [Collier:] Yeah. Just because it's
like such a new thing and like such a new wave.
And it's just kind of
like what you were saying, just being immersed
in like the community and bringing awareness.
It was kind of more for that.
Like, that is absolutely true.
My reasoning was just like to bring more awareness
and kind of like get the wave higher.
- [Wade:] We know that our games are built on the fans
that's in the building.
How's their experience change with NFTs?
Does it become the tickets to get into the game or,
you know,
season-ticket holders get NFTs?
Like, what is the experience
for the fans in the next, you know, 25 years?
How does this grow?
How does this evolve?
- I think you'll definitely see it in tickets.
I think they'll be buying tickets
in like ethereum or different cryptocurrencies.
- One thing I guarantee you about the NBA
in 25 years is that our tickets are NFTs.
And I don't tell anybody who's watching this.
You can go to eBay right now,
search NBA tickets. Things sell,
but the NBA didn't make any royalties on that transaction.
The reason the NBA will issue NFT tickets is when
that special night happens and it becomes collectible.
As people are walking out of Madison Square Garden—
hopefully it's a Knick— out of Madison Square Garden
and they are literally listing or taking—
you don't even have to list in blockchain.
Like, they're taking offers on that NFT cause it sits
on the blockchain and are literally hitting accept
as they're going down the escalators and making money
because they pick the right night to go to the Garden.
That is profound.
It's also profound because when I buy that ticket
cuz I'm in L.A. watching and I'm excited
that RJ Barrett Jr. dropped a hundred points in an NBA game
and I need that collectible,
I may sit on that for five years.
And when RJ Barrett Jr. goes to the Hall of Fame in 22 years,
that ticket might be worth even more,
and I may sell that.
When I sell that for a profit,
the NBA's gonna make a royalty,
and every time that ticket is sold in perpetuity.
The NBA is incentivized to turn every ticket
into an NFT versus a QR code.
The fans that go
to these games are incentivized to have it to be an NFT
versus a QR code cuz they can sell it.
This is a profoundly exciting moment that
most people don't see yet.
- When you buy the NFT, it feels like you have a part
of that athlete. Like, you own this moment forever.
You know?
So I feel like it creates
that fan engagement where they feel
like they're even more a part.
Cause that's what fans want.
Like yes, they love watching us on the court,
but they love to feel like they're part of our lives. - Facts
So owning a moment, like, of your playing career is huge.
So I think it's just gonna get bigger.
- [Wade:] I guess the biggest question,
what everyone wants to know, is NFTs here to stay?
Or is it just for now?
What do you guys think? - [Barnes:] I feel like it's new, though.
Like, it's like the new wave right now.
- Yeah. But I think it, I think it's here to stay
because I think that's the future of our world.
We're not gonna like print out prints
of family photos and hang it on our walls.
- Yeah. - Like, I think people will do that.
But I see the future as like big iPads
on our walls that cycle through family photos
and cycle through NFTs and art and all these different things.
And on people's desks, when you walk in,
they'll have little frames with NFTs on it,
you know what I'm saying?
I see that as the future of the world.
- And I can't remember who said this,
but they said it was like when the internet first came out,
like, there were so many different things.
But like, if you got into
the good ones, like Google, Amazon, like, those hit big.
So like the NFTs, like, a lot of them won't, but the big ones,
like, they're gonna hit really big and they're here to stay.
- [Haliburton:] This is the best part, though.
Like, when we ask each other questions about it,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, that's I think is the best part is like,
guys who were maybe afraid to ask me questions
about what NFTs are aren't anymore.
- A lot of the NBA players have been very aggressive
with NFT land because I think NBA players are, by nature,
the most entrepreneurial, the most creative,
the most technically—like there's,
it's just the energy of the league.
The days of players
being incredibly one-dimensional is long,
long gone.
The thoughtfulness is profound.
These players are making a lot of money now on the court
given the great success
of the league, and they're being thoughtful.
They wanna put those dollars to work in the right ways.
One of the things I'm most excited
about is the first couple meaningful projects done
by an NBA player that isn't specifically
in the concept of their name and jersey within it.
Things that they're doing from the outside.
And I think you're gonna see that and it's gonna happen.
And when it happens, it's gonna create a ripple
within the league that is gonna inspire other guys
in the league to do thoughtful projects
around their interests,
which I think leads to a better NBA player.
I have empathy that owners
and GMs may be scared about what guys are doing.
I've analyzed with my ambitions to one,
one day own the New York Jets.
I've been analyzing guys for a long time.
And I think a more rounded player is a better performer
on the court.
And so I'm excited about that chapter.
- Everybody is like, at first is like, "Eh, I don't know."
- [Wade:] Yeah. - You know what I'm saying?
"I'm not with that."
But like, even my mom and dad, like— [All laughing]
They're like, "OK, I'm trying to get in that now."
You know what I'm saying?
- Man, them two is good.
I learned some stuff today.
- [Toppin:] Aight, we need, we need to talk off camera. - [Haliburton:] Yeah, yeah. [Laughing] - [Wade and Collier laughing]