The thing about basketball history is that certain moments never really disappear. Whether it’s Michael Jordan hanging in the air against Utah, Kobe Bryant scoring 81, or Allen Iverson stepping over Tyronn Lue, they are so electrifying that they keep finding new audiences.
A shot might get replayed on YouTube enough times that younger fans start treating it like mythology, or somebody discovers an old grainy highlight thread, and suddenly a play from the late 1980s starts circulating again. Certain clips outlive the era they came from because they stop feeling attached to a season and start feeling attached to basketball itself.
NBA Top Shot by Dapper Labs is leaning into those moments with two simultaneous releases built around some of the most recognizable plays the league has produced, from Ralph Sampson’s groundbreaking buzzer beater in 1986 to Ray Allen’s corner three that kept a championship season alive.
The larger of the two releases, Run It Back: Playoff Classics, pulls together 15 postseason moments spanning nearly three decades. Rather than focusing on a single era or dynasty, the collection moves through different versions of playoff basketball and the personalities that defined them.
There are shots that have practically become permanent pieces of NBA highlight culture, such as Vince Carter’s buzzer beater against San Antonio in 2014, Sean Elliott’s Memorial Day Miracle, and Dirk Nowitzki driving through Miami’s defense to finish a comeback that shifted momentum in the 2011 Finals.
Others feel almost rediscovered, like Ralph Sampson’s game-winner against the Lakers in 1986. It remains the NBA’s first-ever series-winning buzzer beater, one of those league milestones that somehow doesn’t get revisited nearly as often as later playoff classics. For a younger audience that mostly experiences basketball history through clipped highlights and social media edits, it arrives as something practically brand new.
The release stretches across six NBA Finals appearances, four conference finals, and ten different franchises, creating something closer to a compressed history lesson than a traditional set.
The second release may generate even more conversation outside collecting circles, with Heroes of the Game, Top Shot’s ongoing Ultimate-tier monument series, adding Ray Allen and Tracy McGrady, two players whose defining moments have arguably become larger than their statistics.
Allen’s inclusion centers on a shot that barely needs explanation anymore. Down three with seconds left in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, he drifted backward toward the corner, caught Chris Bosh’s rebound, and fired before his feet were fully set. Five-point-two seconds remained.
With that play, Miami survived overtime, won Game 7, and secured another championship. The shot has long since escaped the boundaries of Heat fandom or even basketball fandom, sitting in a smaller category of sports moments people immediately recognize, even if they cannot recall the score.
McGrady’s entry reaches for something different, with his 13 points in 33 seconds against San Antonio remaining one of basketball’s least believable sequences. Four straight three-pointers, and a game winner with 1.7 seconds remaining. It’s an ending that still feels improbable no matter how many times someone rewatches it.
Some plays survive because they decide championships. Others survive because they almost seem impossible. Basketball tends to remember both.
For collectors, the mechanics follow familiar territory. Run It Back: Playoff Classics arrives as a Legendary-tier release with standard moments minted to 44 copies alongside Galactic and one-of-one Omega parallels. Heroes of the Game will feature standard editions minted to 10 copies with one-of-one Diamond versions.
But the broader appeal is the memory itself and the fan connection. Because before these were collectibles, they were moments people argued about, replayed endlessly, and passed along to the next generation of fans. That’s the magic Dapper Labs has been able to harness with NBA Top Shot.
