GRIND Basketball Shooting Machine Update | Shark Tank Season 12
Basketball shooting practice can be difficult when chasing balls around the court. Because of this, Thomas Fields created a product to help. His rebounding machine aims to make it easier for those who want to practice getting their shots up on their own. Will he get a deal on
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to GRIND after
GRIND appeared on
| Shark: | Result: |
| Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban | Accepted deal of $250,000 for 25% equity |
| Lori Greiner | No Offer |
| Kevin O’Leary | No Offer |
| Alex Rodriguez | No Offer |
Shark Tank GRIND Update
- Entrepreneur: Thomas Fields
- Business: Portable, collapsible, and affordable rebounding machine
- Ask: $250,000 for 5% equity
- Result: $250,000 for 25% equity
- Shark: Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran
Once a basketball player hoping to make it in the NBA, Thomas has shifted his attention to founding his own company, GRIND Inc.
Unleash your potential with our portable shooting machine. Shoot, rebound, and dominate like a pro. Perfect your skills and become an unstoppable force on the court — essential basketball training equipment for aspiring champions.
GRIND is a basketball-focused business that’s dedicated to “developing interactive sports products that solve the problems of athletes.” The company’s first product is a portable, collapsible, and affordable rebounding machine.
The product is easy to install and can be placed underneath any basketball hoop. It then automatically rebounds and throws the balls back at the shooter so that anyone can practice at any time, even without help.
Thomas invites Mark Cuban to come up and give the rebounder a try. The sharks then give him a hard time for missing several shots.
Thomas explains that his machine is not the only one out there, but that GRIND prides itself on making its product accessible. So far, the company’s product is the cheapest around and lets buyers make use of a payment plan if needed.
It retails for $1,495 and costs $977 to manufacture per unit. So far, GRIND has sold $215,000 worth of their shooting machines in pre-sales in only five months. All that’s left is for Thomas to manufacture and fulfill the orders.
However, before that, he is hoping to find a willing partner to invest in his company. The goal of a deal is to gain the help he needs to fulfill the orders and grow his business.
Kevin O’Leary told Thomas that he liked the product, but he was out.
Lori Greiner also liked the product, but she said it was not the right investment for her, so she was out too.
Guest shark Alex Rodriguez had concerns over the low margins, as well as the price point. For those reasons, he was also out.
Barbara Corcoran offered to invest $250,000 for 20% equity if Mark would join the deal.
Mark says there’s not enough equity, and they would need 30%. Barbara agrees to the terms.
Thomas counters back at $300,000 for 25%, but Mark counters again at $250,000 for 25%. After some hesitation, Thomas accepts the deal from Barbara and Mark.
What happens to Thomas and his company following
Research for our GRIND update reveals that the deal with Barbara and Mark never closed. Even so, Thomas was still able to get over 1 million pre-orders shipped to his customers.
So far, reviews of the GRIND Machine have been positive, with some referring to it as the best investment they’ve ever made.
In addition to their rebounder, GRIND now sells other merchandise such as shirts, hoodies, and shorts.
The rebounder, however, is available on the GRIND website and on Amazon but has gone up in price since it appeared on
Perhaps this is to make up for the loss of investment with the sharks, although it doesn’t seem to be hurting the company either.
Before you go, be sure to check out updates for the other companies featured on Season 12 Episode 23:
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Andrew Smith is the founder and owner of Shark Tank Recap. He is a longtime Shark Tank fan that has been watching it for years and has seen every episode multiple times. His friends know him as the Shark Tank expert, because he can answer any question about the show! His favorite Shark Tank products are Bertello's pizza oven and Bug Bite Thing!