Celebrities often use their X account to promote any brand or company they may have invested in. Scottie Pippen’s handle, it seems, is used solely for promoting $BALL, a cryptocurrency he has started. Intriguingly, the Chicago Bulls legend has taken a break from the constant pushing of his coin, and instead reminded his followers that failure isn’t the end of it all, citing sports legends including Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady.
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Pippen had tokenized the Chicago Bulls’ iconic 1991 NBA Finals Game 5 Championship-winning ball to the blockchain. It is currently trading on Ethereum as $BALL Token. Pippen boldly claimed that despite Bitcoin’s value hitting $100k, nobody can ever be late to invest in the cryptocurrency. His reasoning? The coin hasn’t reached its full potential for the global market cap.
“You think you’re late to Bitcoin because it hit $100,000. I think I’m early to Bitcoin because it’s $1.7 Trillion Market Cap out of a total $900 Trillion in global assets. Next stop, $1 MILLION $BTC,” posted Scottie.
You think you're late to Bitcoin because it hit $100,000.
I think I'm early to Bitcoin because it's $1.7 Trillion Market Cap out of a total $900 Trillion in global assets.
Next stop, $1 MILLION $BTC 🔥
— Scottie Pippen (@ScottiePippen) December 28, 2024
However, nearly two hours later, he shared a post with a drastic change in tone. Pippen spoke about how failure is nothing but a stepping stone to success. It seemed more like a plea, asking people to have faith in his coin, $BALL.
The 6x champion is a bit of a stranger to failure in his sporting career, having never lost a single Finals series. So, he used Kobe Bryant, Babe Ruth, Serena Williams, Tom Brady, and Novak Djokovic as examples in the ‘motivational’ post.
It is easy to see through what Pippen was trying to pull. The Bulls legend was portraying that even greats like Bryant have had low points in their careers. And that they used failure to push themselves to reach the pinnacle of their field.
Kobe is a 5x NBA Champion.
He also holds the all-time record for missed shots.Babe Ruth is a 7x World Series Champion.
He also led the MLB in strikeouts for 5 seasons.Tom Brady is a 7x Superbowl Champion.
He also holds the record for most passes intercepted in Superbowl…— Scottie Pippen (@ScottiePippen) December 29, 2024
The post is quite a flip from what Pippen has been making of late on X. Since his account seems largely devoted to $BALL coin, the tweet about sporting greats seemed like an indirect ploy to remind fans that any dip in the coin’s value is not the end. And that there is potential for a comeback for people who believe in it and stay invested.
However, unlike sporting careers, returns in cryptocurrency investments cannot be guaranteed through hard work, focus, determination, and all the other traits Pippen mentioned in his post.
That said, Pippen’s coin has seen a substantial value increase in the time it’s been a tradeable asset, despite the initial concerns that arose online. $BALL has seen an 86% rise in its value since its launch on August 1, with a market cap of $1.4 million.
While Scottie has had a great NBA career, and is possibly on his way to a relatively successful crypto one too, not all NBA players have been successful when venturing into the rocky path of crypto investments. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andre Iguodala have suffered losses in the past.
A cryptocurrency’s value can change constantly and dramatically. An investment that may be worth thousands of dollars today could be worth only hundreds tomorrow. If the value goes down, there’s no guarantee that it will rise again.
It’s important to remember that professional sports athletes, who have massive paychecks, can bounce back even if a few of their investments do not take off. They have enough to cover any losses they may sustain.
However, laypersons — fans of Pippen or not — should invest responsibly, and only after proper consultation with experts in the field.