From Cards to Courtside with Matas Buzelis

Growing up, I was all about sports cards - and lived through the 1990s “Junk Wax” era when overproduction meant that most of our collections ended up with little value. I still have my albums from 1995 and shoeboxes full of 'base' cards as nostalgic reminders of those days. A few years ago I even remember hunting for that elusive 1990-1991 NBA Hoops Mark Jackson card featuring the Menedez brothers in the front row, because apparently those were worth something again. Sure enough I found a couple of those cards.

In my adult life I managed to acquire some great cards—rookies of legends like Jackie Robinson, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson/Larry Bird, Nolan Ryan, and others that I never could have afforded as a kid. I’ve always gravitated toward unique, rare pieces that I’d love to pass down to my kids. One of my current projects is collecting the 1955 Topps Doubleheaders. You may never have heard of these, but essentially they are cards that show one player, and when folded in half show a different player. Because so many of these cards were folded, it's extremely challenging to find decently graded cards in the set.

When Victor Wembanyama premiered in the NBA, I jumped back into buying physical packs of cards for the first time in years, and pulled a few Wemby moments... only to find out that yet, like a flashback to the 1990s, the card companies had printed way too many of these rookie cards, only this time disguising them with dozens of colors and variations, and thus watering down the scarcity of such a talented young player's rookie cards. I mention this to explain my attraction to NBA Top Shot. A platform where I don't have to worry about grading or condition of cards, and can easily understand and see exactly how many moments of any given player have been minted, and as a bonus, no shoeboxes stuffed with cardboard taking up space in my closet!

1955 Topps Doubleheader: Ted Williams

Discovering NBA Top Shot

I first heard about NBA Top Shot in January 2021 through voices in the fantasy sports community. After a few weeks of deliberation I joined the platform in February 2021. I still recall sitting in random queues at random times of the day, trying to score a pack. While my early investments were modest, my collection goals and strategies have evolved countless times over my four years on the platform.

The sense of community, especially with friends on the Badge County Discord, has made the journey even more enjoyable. Whether it’s offseason NBA chatter about the draft or sharing thoughts on sleepers and draft luck (yes, the Spurs have unfair draft luck), NBA Top Shot has kept me engaged with other basketball fans in a whole new way.

My Collection Priorities Today

• San Antonio Spurs Team Leaderboard: My primary focus, with a secondary interest in teams like the Thunder (Oklahoma City is the closest NBA city to my hometown of Amarillo, TX).

• Rookies: Whether physical or digital, rookies are the collectibles that I want.

• Rookie Revelation Set: I’m committed to completing this set every year. I love the draft footage, the standout highlights, and the scarcity created by the Legendary mint counts of 75.

• Memorable Moments: I collect moments tied to games I’ve attended.

• Favorite Player Leaderboards: Wemby, Steph Castle, and Matas Buzelis

Left: Top Shot Spurs Leaderboard (40th) Right: Matas Buzelis Leaderboard (1st Position)

The Matas Buzelis All-Star Challenge

Before we get to the Matas Buzelis trip, I want to mention something about leaderboards. I don’t remember if Top Shot coined the phrase “The Future of Fandom” or if that was just someone in the community, but being able to say that I am #40 on the San Antonio Spurs leaderboard is amazing. No where else is there a way to track your fandom like you can on TopShot. I could certainly talk about this topic for hours, but to keep it short - I hope to see these leaderboards grow in how the NBA and the players can identify their biggest fans.

On February 10, 2025, NBA Top Shot announced the Matas Buzelis All-Star Experience with the call to “Lock his moments and finish at the top of his leaderboard by 12 PM ET on Wednesday, Feb 12.”

When I read the announcement, I knew I had a good shot. I’m a big fan of Matas; I love that he landed with his hometown Chicago Bulls—even though I secretly hoped the San Antonio Spurs would draft him with their 8th pick in the 2024 draft. When the Freshman Gems set dropped, it felt like Matas was undervalued, so I began stacking his Gems moments with a plan to eventually trade them up for a Rookie Revelation. (For those unaware, one of the more unique and amazing features of NBA Top Shot is the ability to "trade up" for better moments. Trading commons for rares, rares for legendaries... good luck doing that with physical cards!)

At the time of the Matas announcement, I owned 9 out of the 199 Rare Matas Freshmen Gems—the next closest collector had only 5. I even called my brother to share the excitement and discussed the idea of my wife being my “Plus 1” for the event (though I was also thinking about taking my son for an unforgettable weekend). That night, I bought several more Matas Gems, eventually rounding up to 17 in hopes of securing the top spot.

The Road to an Unforgettable All-Star Weekend

On the day the contest ended, I was in the middle of a 2-hour training session with a client. I had my phone set up to monitor the countdown while juggling my work meeting—thankfully, my client didn’t mind a little distraction. When the timer hit zero, I was still in first place. I had won the Matas Experience, and with the All-Star Weekend only two days away, the excitement was through the roof!

Within hours, I received messages from Jacob and Steve from the Top Shot team about logistics. NBA Top Shot covered airfare, hotels, and tickets for me and my son. Although living in Amarillo, TX means booking flights into San Francisco can be tricky on short notice, the team was flexible. They even let me choose a hotel—Marriott Fisherman’s Wharf, paid for by Top Shot! My son and I squeezed in some classic tourist adventures like visiting Alcatraz, riding the Ferris Wheel for stunning views, and spotting Sea Lions.

On Friday, my son and I woke up excited, we were going to meet Matas! Early that morning though, Jacob messaged me and said Matas was going to participate in the Rising Stars game as an injury replacement, so our meet and greet was going to be changed. We now had the afternoon free so we went to the NBA Crossover event. I didn't know what to expect but it was a blast, featuring an obstacle course reminiscent of the Skills competition, engaging vendors, and even a surprise appearance by Wemby in person. My son especially loved the gaming area, packed with various NBA video games.

Saturday we headed back to the NBA Crossover event again, this time I wanted to be there for the Collector's Panel to hear from Roham, the CEO of Dapper Labs. The panel was just 30 minutes, and honestly the discussion was great. I wish it could have gone longer. Afterwards we met up with other Top Shot collectors that I have known for years through Discord, and could finally meet in person. We unfortunately didn't have time to meet Tristan Da Silva who was hosting an NBA Top Shot Happy Hour, as we had to head back to the hotel before the main event - NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

Wemby at Crossover, Arriving at Crossover, Alcatraz in San Francisco

Saturday Night - Meeting Matas

NBA All-Star Saturday Night to me is the best part of the All-Star weekend, and this year was no exception. The Skills and 3-Point contest are always fun to watch, but probably even better in person. But the Dunk contest is without a doubt the highlight of the night! My son lost his mind when Mac jumped over the car! You are not really cheering for any one person, you are cheering for each dunk to amaze, and I don’t think anyone in the building left disappointed this year.

About an hour before the dunk contest started, Jacob messages me and introduces me to Matas' manager Jenny. She asks where we are sitting and if we can make it over to another section of the stadium immediately after the Dunk contest is over. My assumption was that we would probably get there and get to go to a media room to meet Matas. When we arrived at that section of the stadium, we see Jacob and some other Top Shot collectors and they ask us to start making our way down towards the court. We really did not even have time to grasp what was about to happen. Around the court there is a lot of security as you would expect, and Matas' manager starts to escort my son and I, and a couple of people from Top Shot ONTO THE COURT!

I had about 20 seconds to look around, I see Gary Payton, Cameron Brink, Candace Parker, honestly overwhelmed! And then Matas walks over, and we get to shake hands, say a few words, and then his manager says they have a couple of gifts for us. Signed jerseys from Matas, and one of them is Game Worn! We had a few more minutes to take pictures with Matas, and take in the moment on the court, before we had to start heading back up into the stands.

Final Thoughts

Thinking back to the Collector Panel, they talked about how the best collectibles are tied to moments that you remember. The Matas jerseys, the photographs we got with him, and the NBA Top Shot moments of Matas that I was able to collect and lock to win this leaderboard will forever stay in my collection as reminders of the memories I got to make with my son at the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend thanks to NBA TopShot.

Brady aka "CoachFinstock" is a collector of things he loves like Sports Cards and memorabilia, Comic Books, Movie Posters, and NBA Top Shot moments. He and his wife grew up playing basketball in West Texas and have continued that love of basketball ever since.