Look out, Dapper Labs? The NBA is expanding it’s web3 presence in a new partnership announced this week with NFT platform Sorare. The two will be working on building a new gamified fantasy platform to be released sometime next year. We’ll take a look at what we know from the first look announcement from the two parties, what sort of impact this could have on the NBA’s existing NFT relationship with Dapper Labs, and what to look out for as this story develops.

The NBA Doubles Down

The NBA and it’s player’s association, the NBAPA, have nailed down their first ever “official NFT fantasy partner” with Sorare today, according to a league press release that hit the wire this morning. The announcement does not disclose terms around the multiyear deal, but elaborates that the focal point for Sorare will be to build “the first officially licensed, free-to-play digital collectible-based fantasy basketball game,” which could be released as early as this coming fall. The NBA season is approaching 30 days from kickoff, and preseason starts later this month.

Sorare has been attacking a variety of major sports and has now launched their landing page to subscribe to email updates.

Is Dapper Labs (FLOW) going to be facing increased pressure to deliver following the NBA's new deal with Sorare? Some speculators think so. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com

Sorare’s Continued Push, A Threat To Dapper?

Sorare got it’s start in European football, merging the concepts of fantasy sports with NFTs. The platform is the leading player in building fantasy sports on a blockchain, and has established strong repoir with a variety of clubs. Today, Sorare’s football roster is rapidly approaching 300 clubs of various sizes and geographic locations.

Earlier this year, we say the platform’s first foray into major U.S. sports with a partnership with Major League Baseball. The deal allowed full IP access across all 30 major league teams in baseball, and a fantasy-style game is also expected here. Sorare is also working with the NFL to release ‘Rivals,’ another fantasy-inspired NFT game.

With a new NBA deal in place, should Dapper Labs be concerned over a potential new U.S. competitor? Competition breeds better products, so it’s not all doom and gloom for Dapper. NBA Top Shot proponents argue that both Sorare and Top Shot can co-exist, and that’s likely true. However, Dapper Labs had long touted the potential around ‘Hardwood,’ a gamified aspect of the NFTs that are in Top Shot’s arsenal. Despite all of this, there’s still plenty for Dapper to be excited about – such as their recently established Ticketmaster partnership.

We’ll see how things shake out in the months ahead.