“Crypto Volatility Is a Problem”: NBA World Erupts as Concerning News Emerges on Former #1 Draft Pick

The boom of the crypto market made its way into the NBA world as well. From sponsorships to advertisements, and from investments to NFTs, the league found ways to cash in on the new and upcoming market of cryptocurrency. In light of the recent crisis in the market, many platforms have been compelled to be held accountable. And a few NBA players are facing the brunt of it as well.

Cryptocurrency platform BlockFi has had a multi-year sponsorship deal since 2021 with the former #1 draft pick, Cade Cunningham. Reports claimed that 100% of his signing bonus’ would come from BlockFi in the form of Bitcoin tokens. The company intended to use the Detroit Pistons‘ Cunningham’s position to leverage educational and promotional videos regarding crypto.

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Last year at this announcement, Zac Prince who is the CEO and co-founder of Block-Fi, praised Cade Cunningham for his collaboration. He said, “BlockFi will support him every step of the way.”

Notably, BlockFi is preparing to file for bankruptcy this year. Fans erupted on social media, connecting that the NBA player may have some problems. They stated that “crypto volatility is a problem”. Others were curious about how sizeable was his signing bonus.

They had initially denied that they had assets at FTX. However, they acknowledged that they indeed have “significant exposure to FTX and associated corporate entities”. The crypto platform has now restricted activity on the platform, justifying the market’s volatility.

Several NBA players had invested in crypto

Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors decided to get a partial salary in Bitcoin tokens. His teammate, Andre Iguodala, partnered up with Thompson and Jack Dorsey’s Cash App to convert the same. Thompson said that he believed that his collaboration was because “it’s the future of money”.

New Orleans Pelicans star CJ McCollum’s interest in the crypto world led to a partnership with StormX. McCollum also wanted to help “bring crypto to the mainstream”.

NBA greats Stephen Curry and LeBron James have joined FTX and Crypto.com respectively. Curry received equity stakes while LeBron was part of an awareness program that taught children about blockchain technology.

Many more NBA players are invested or interested in the NFT world as well. It will be interesting to see if that number now decreases following the latest developments involving cryptocurrency.

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Do you think the collaboration between crypto companies and NBA players will reduce? Let us know what you think in the comments below.