Players Only, an NFT collection that was co-founded by prominent athletes Michael Carter-Willi, Jerami Grant, Gary Harris, Marcus Zegarowski, Terrence Ross, Dennis Cliff Smith Jr., and Lance McCullers Jr., all American professional basketball players. The collection was advertised as a series of 10,000 non-fungible tokens, but the number went down.
Players Only rugged by pro-athletes
Players Only NFT collection was launched in early December 2021 via Doge Pound launchpad & advertised itself as “NFTs for sports fans from the players” with a number of use cases such as metaverse/IRL events, merch, autographs, giveaways, all where each athlete co-founder would be closely involved.
1/ Let’s talk about @playersonlynft a $1.4m NFT rug pull founded by pro-athletes @mcarterwilliams @JeramiGrant @thats_G_ @MZegarowski1 @TerrenceRoss @Dennis1SmithJr @lmccullers43 pic.twitter.com/jsrewp8apX
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 8, 2022
According to ZachXBT, an on-chain analyst known for revealing rug pulls, the supply of NFTs was decreased to 4,456 NFTs, but the project was able to raise $1.4 million. “Every single one of our holders will win something,” the team said. Interestingly, during the time of the launch, each athlete decided to hype the project, calling it the next big thing.
“Right after minting concludes, the funds get transferred away to each of the athletes, Doge Pound, and the other team members Brooks/Drew,” ZachXBT revealed.
“The first few weeks go okay, then in February, things begin to go poorly. People don’t receive giveaways, athletes are never hanging out or in the Discord, mods quit, excuses pile up, and delays begin to happen,” added ZachXBT. Furthermore, co-founders Brooks Brown announced he and Austin Grieshober would be leaving the project on May 5th, confirming that Michael Carter-Willi will stay to develop the project. Since then, nothing has happened with the Players Only NFT collection.
The Wild West of crypto
The NFT industry is being considered the Wild West of crypto as countless projects have suffered rug pulls while many such projects have ties to celebrities like Logan Paul. Additionally, many firms have also released their NFT collections like The Associated Press.
