McGrady NFT: Let Life's Highlights Live Forever in the Metaverse

Image source: McGrady's Weibo

When I saw McGrady, with nearly 17 million fans across all platforms, proclaiming, "With Arche, these classic highlight moments can achieve immortality in the metaverse, and that fearless spirit will never fade away!"

Image source: McGrady's official Douyin account

When I saw McGrady in a live interview video, fans commented, "McGrady's beard has turned white" and "I skipped class to watch NBA games back then, and now my kid is 3 years old [crying]."

I felt a pang in my nose; one is the fleeting nature of life. Back then, I watched NBA text broadcasts on an old phone with a hole in my desk, and it seems like just a few years have passed, and I am already aging. The second is reflecting on my own life, where there hasn't been a moment worth turning into an NFT to be permanently stored on the blockchain; everything is ordinary and mundane, wearing away life in the days that are arranged for us.

Life's highlight moments are fleeting, and McGrady's 13 points in 35 seconds are but a firework moment in a century. At that time, we, a group of kids who fought every day, went crazy for those 35 seconds borrowed from God, abandoning the debate of who was stronger or weaker, shouting together, "AKA the Light of God! AKA the Light of God!"

I think it is this memory that has made NBA Top Shot, which focuses on NFT player cards, attract over a million users in just 8 months, with total sales exceeding $700 million. For instance, the 12-second NFT of LeBron James dunking over a defender against the Kings even fetched a high price of $260,000.

But compared to LeBron's dunk, I have always believed that what is more inspiring is McGrady's turnaround in 35 seconds from 17 years ago. Whenever I find life difficult, I watch McGrady's miraculous video, where he scored 13 points in 35 seconds to turn the game around.

Seeing McGrady treat his life's highlight moments as NFTs, I suddenly feel that life is unpredictable and trivial. If there is a moment that can be called eternal, then to look back on it for a lifetime, "dying at sunset is acceptable."

McGrady Moments teams up with Binance NFT; can extreme heroism recreate the glory of NBA Top Shot?

On December 10, 2004, a regular season game took place at the Toyota Center, where 16,170 spectators were fortunate to witness this historic moment:

1. 38 seconds left. The Spurs still led the Rockets (McGrady's team) by 8 points, and many spectators began to leave early.
2. 34.2 seconds left. McGrady's performance began, scoring 7 points in 18 seconds, including a 3+1 against Duncan, the strongest defender in the league at that time; meanwhile, the Spurs, as the strongest team, scored 4 points from free throws, extending their lead.
3. 16 seconds left. The Rockets nearly failed to inbound the ball, but McGrady caught an incredibly difficult pass and hit a three-pointer in front of the Spurs' defensive specialist Bowen; after the Spurs called a timeout and began to counterattack, McGrady quickly picked up the ball after an opposing player fell and hit another three-pointer, scoring 6 points!!
4. 1.7 seconds left. Parker of the Spurs missed a meaningless three-pointer, and the game ended.
5. The Rockets miraculously defeated the Spurs 81-80.

This moment is known as the McGrady Moment. Media reports at the time referred to him as "the man who moved God," and his extreme personal heroism touched millions of fans worldwide.

NBA Top Shot has surpassed Cryptokitties to top the NFT collectibles rankings, and these achievements prove that NBA Top Shot has pushed NFT collectibles to new heights, relying on the extreme heroism of the NBA IP. This is also why in the crypto space, crypto.com sponsors the Staples Center of the Los Angeles Lakers, and FTX sponsors the Miami Heat, among other actions, because crypto itself is another form of heroism: constructing oneself amid a series of incredible pressures and crises.

LeBron James' instant dunk blind box was ultimately sold for a sky-high price in NBA Top Shot, but which IP is most likely to recreate the glory of heroism in NBA Top Shot? Undoubtedly, it is the McGrady Moment.

On November 19, 2021, at 19:00 Beijing time, Binance NFT, in collaboration with Arche Network, launched the McGrady Moment NFT, with a total issuance of 35,130 NFTs. We can witness the brilliance of the 35 seconds and 13 points McGrady moment on Binance NFT. With Binance continuously launching the CITY and PORTO football fan projects, as well as the performance of the Binance NFT blind box section, we can expect the brilliance of sports in the crypto field.

It is understood that the design concept of this NFT series is based on the real scenes of the McGrady moment and his career highlights, combined with elements of crypto culture for secondary creation. Through character modeling, special effects rendering, and algorithmic arrangement, it highly restores McGrady's classic performances. Unlike other star card NFTs, this series primarily consists of 3D special effects video NFTs and is sold in blind box form.

To increase the playability of the NFTs, McGrady NFTs are set at four collectible levels: N/R/SR/SSR, which include the McGrady Moment commemorative edition, McGrady Moment classic 3D edition, top 10 plays of his career, and NBA Hall of Fame moments. The higher the level, the richer and more vivid the content, and the higher its collectible value.

By holding McGrady NFTs, fans can collect each great McGrady moment through exclusive ownership. "Every time I look at the NFT works, it's like those moments come back in front of me; it's a very cool experience," McGrady stated on Weibo.

NFT in the Metaverse Era

McGrady's actions not only have significance at the NFT level but also represent a new exploration at the metaverse level.

The independent declaration at the birth of the metaverse is that assets are sacred and inviolable and destined to be eternal. NFTs are the best interpretation of this spirit, and the McGrady moment can also achieve immortality in the metaverse world through NFTs.

When we enter the metaverse, what kind of universe do we enter? In this universe, how will we face ourselves and examine all traces of our existence? McGrady provides an answer. He invests his personal spirit into this metaverse, facing all comments in the metaverse in the most direct manner; transferring his experiential existence into another time and space, facing another existence in the metaverse in the most serious and public way.

In a previous article, BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes stated that in the economic city of the metaverse, people can appreciate NFT artworks in digital art galleries. People's attachment to communities and various virtual cities revolves around NFTs, and communities will endow NFT art forms with real value on a macro level.

Various technological and conceptual advancements will enable scenarios that were impossible in the Web 2.0 world to be realized in the metaverse ecosystem, allowing NFTs to gain more empowerment as the metaverse ecosystem rapidly expands, providing ordinary users with richer and more diverse experiences.

Imagine that in the future, we can easily watch classic moments of players like McGrady in metaverse art galleries, view artistic works, meet friends with similar interests, or showcase our love and dedication to basketball in public by holding NFTs. This will make NFTs the connection point for social relationships in the metaverse era, driving the evolution of a new digital civilization.

Whether it is NFTs or the metaverse, they are currently in the early stages of development, with risks and opportunities coexisting, but opportunities dominate. In the future, perhaps more public figures will join the ranks of pioneers like McGrady and Durant, turning their works and highlight moments into NFTs for issuance, joining the exciting world of the metaverse.