Tristan Thompson launches basketball.fun

The mechanics: Beyond holding shares, the platform facilitates direct competition between users based on specific player matchups.

• Daily head-to-head contests pit specific players against one another, such as Jaylen Brown versus Kawhi Leonard.
• Users predict which player will have the better stat line in a “winner take all” format.
• Thompson aims to deepen fan engagement by incentivizing viewers to watch live games to track their investments.

The context: Thompson believes the platform caters to an online culture that wants to monetize its sports knowledge.

• The goal is to give users and hardcore fans a place to prove their insights exceed those of TV analysts and their friends.
• The system uses leaderboards to let users “flex” their basketball IQ and prove they are the “smartest in the room” compared to their peers.
• Thompson argues that modern culture has turned almost everything into a competition or market.

Tristan’s take: Beyond speculation, Thompson sees the platform as a reputation engine for the next generation of sports media personalities.

• He envisions top performers using their verifiable on-chain track records to launch independent livestreams and build social followings.
• The goal is to empower creators to become “more popular than the guys on ESPN” by proving they are tapped into the culture.

Thompson says the drive to compete is innate, but Web3 tools now allow fans to financialize it. “Now I think we’re realizing that almost anything can be a form of competition where you can monetize it and create a market where people can make money,” Thompson said.