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Stephen Curry, LaMelo Ball, and the Bored Ape NFT Takeover

Last Updated: July 5, 2023
Steph Curry’s Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collectible cost him $180,000. And now, the hype heads to Sotheby’s to drive even bigger numbers.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club continues to add to its celebrity membership. If you need a moment to look up what that phrase means, take all the time you need.

But at the very least, understand that Bored Ape non-fungible token collectibles are putting up numbers that are anything but boring.

You might even say that they’re putting up stats like Stephen Curry — the two-time NBA MVP himself joined the Bored Ape party this week in purchasing one of the platform’s namesake NFTs for a whopping 55 ETH ($180,000), a blue Bored Ape with zombie-like eyes, tweed suit, and spotted cravat.

The BAYC offers a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs, all powered by the Ethereum blockchain and sold on OpenSea. Initially, Bored Ape Yacht Club sold each NFT for 0.08 Ethereum, or around $300. After each one sold out, they showed up on the secondary market, with prices ballooning to astronomical levels.

Curry joins a growing list of athletes to purchase one, which will surely add to their demand.

Especially if he keeps posting in the Bored Ape Discord chat — and an all-new Bored Ape auction at Sotheby’s takes the hype to unprecedented levels as many digital collectibles enthusiasts expect.

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The Bored Ape All-Stars

Pelicans guard Josh Hart, an avid and opinionated NFT collector, currently lists two Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs for sale on his OpenSea page, as well as a few others from Bored Ape offshoots like the Bored Ape Kennel Club, Chemistry Club, and Kids Club. Hart currently lists 126 total NFTs on his page.

According to Decrypt.co, other NBA Bored Ape owners include Tyrese Halliburton and LaMelo Ball. 76ers Director of Player Ops Daryl Morey is also reportedly a BAYC member.

And it’s more than just basketball players. Dez Bryant and Von Miller are both Bored Ape owners, and Miller is not even alone in the Denver Broncos community — kicker Brandon McManus and retired veterans Brandon Stokley and Tyler Polumbus are also on the yacht, as Decrypt notes.

This is far from the peak of the celebrity Bored Ape movement, however. Starting Thursday and lasting one week, Sotheby’s is hosting an online sale of BAYC NFTs entitled “Ape in!” that could fetch up to $20 million total.

In short order, as the high art world takes notice and new collections like the Bored Ape Kennel Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club join the party, the $180,000 Curry paid could look like couch cushion money.

A Ticket to the Club

Critically, Bored Ape NFTs are more than just nifty digital art pieces for their owner to covet; they doubles as Yacht Club membership cards, per the official BAYC website.

In this way, they have something in common with crypto fan tokens increasingly adopted by sports teams around the world.

Members are granted access to exclusive benefits, the full particulars of which are not entirely clear as of this writing. One confirmed perk, however, is access to The Bathroom, essentially a digital graffiti wall.

There are also promises of a digital treasure hunt with a 5 ETH payout and an additional Bored Ape NFT as a prize. Bored Ape merch is inbound, too, but some members have taken matters into their own hands to make their memorabilia a little more permanent.

A BAYC tattoo may seem extreme, but then again, a whole lot about the Bored Ape Yacht Club seems to be.

Including the prices they’re commanding on the feverishly competitive resale market.

At this rate, you might just have to be a supermax contract guy like Steph Curry to break into this increasingly exclusive club.

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Russell Steinberg

Russell Steinberg is an editor and writer at Boardroom. He came to the brand in 2021 with a decade of experience in sports journalism, primarily covering college basketball at SB Nation as a writer, reporter, and blog manager. In a previous life, he worked as a social media strategist and copywriter, handling accounts ranging from sports retail to luxury hotels and financial technology. Though he has mastered the subtweet, he kindly requests you @ him next time.