Credit NBC For Understanding The Time Has Finally Come To Market The Next Wave Of NBA Superstars
When it comes to TV ratings, overall interest in the league, problems with the product etc, a lot of the criticism I feel like misses the point. You hear the same old shit about 3PT volume, playstyle, entertainment factor from a lot of people who either aren't watching every night or deep down, don't actually like basketball. They want an easy answer to a complicated problem, but what else is new?
Regardless of your thoughts on NBA basketball in 2024, whether you are pro-3PT shooting or think it's the worst invention in the sport's history, the one thing all sides can agree on is a very big part of the equation when it comes to ratings/interest is the fact that the NBA has a marketing problem. I'd argue this is the biggest piece of the puzzle (followed by their awful officiating), and the NBA and their media partners' unwillingness to acknowledge that there are other superstars in the NBA outside of LeBron, Steph, and KD is a huge issue. We get it, they are on their last legs and are basketball Gods. But they are also old news. We don't need to be told LeBron and Steph are awesome, we've seen it for over a decade by now.
What we haven't seen is the league (and their partners) figure out how to market that next wave of NBA superstars. Their resistance to market anyone other than those Big 3 never made any sense, especially because of how good the talent is! Maybe it's my moron brain, but it feels like a decent idea to market the next generation of superstars at a time when your current Big 3 are on the last few holes of their NBA careers.
A perfect example of this approach is what the NBA socials did around the massive OKC/CLE game. They went hard as shit marketing that game (for good reason) and highlighting all of the good players/interesting stats involved in that matchup. The result? People watched! The game was awesome! What a concept!
So why do I bring this up?
Well, the NBA returning to NBC is a huge deal. For olds like myself, it's nostalgia city. From the return of Round Ball Rock
to Bob Costa's incredible intros, the NBA on NBC was a massive part of all of our basketball lives if you're from my generation or older. So, the NBA coming back is a pretty big deal, which means it's time to promote. One would think given everything else we've seen in recent years, that NBC would do what everyone else does. Promos with LeBron, Steph etc. The old guard. While you wouldn't really blame them for going that route, what we got instead was so much better
They did it! They figured it out!
If you want people to care about the future of the NBA, you need to do a much better job at marketing the future of the NBA. And while I'm sure there will be some fans that want to disagree, these 3 players are the faces of the next wave of the NBA. Sorry Luka stans, sorry SGA or Anthony Edwards or Jokic fans, this is the reality.
Starting with Giannis, he covers the "older" group of this next wave. The 29-31 year old players. While some may argue this should be Jokic, let's not forget about Giannis' resume. I always feel like that gets lost when talking about this sort of thing. Jokic is an all time player and the best player on the planet, but Giannis is Giannis
Given how dominant he is on the floor and how popular he is off it, that's a no brainer choice for a promo like this for that section of the "next wave".
Jayson Tatum is also a no brainer. The current defending champ on the most prestigious and successful franchise in the NBA who also is extremely popular, Tatum handles the 25-29 grouping of this "next wave". He's arguably the best young American born player and is a marketing machine. His haters can't accept this and continue to be extremely weird about him, but the facts are the facts. Both on and off the court, Jayson Tatum moves the needle.
With Wemby, here's your 19-25 grouping. The no brainer leader in the clubhouse for who is the best and most marketable player under 23 years old, pretty much everyone who watches this sport accepts the fact that the titles and accolades are coming Wemby's way at some point. He's already playing at a 1st Team All NBA level at 21, and is a lock for DPOY. It's hard to come up with a better choice for that "young" group.
While it will be a sad day once LeBron/Steph/KD hang them up, it's very important that the NBA starts to understand there is nothing wrong with marketing your next generation of superstars. People are going to watch them! Their on court play is worthy of being the face of your marketing campaigns, and you don't have to keep riding the LeBron/Steph/KD coattails. There are plenty of marketable superstars available, which is why this is refreshing as hell from NBC.
You combine this with Amazon giving us Blake Griffin and Dirk being involved, and while it's going to be annoying as shit to figure out where all these games are being shown and clicking around between apps, I can't help but be excited for this next wave, especially if every partner isn't just going to shove LeBron down our throats every chance they get.
Newsflash, there are a shit ton of awesome players in the NBA worthy of promotion! We'll see how it shakes out, but this is certainly progress I can get behind.