The NBA knows how to put on a successful event. Their finals are one of the best television draws right now, even after awful ratings in 2020. Certainly, they market their players better than any league (outside of the NFL), which makes for a better product. As a result, I’m going to dive into this past weekend and what made All-Star weekend superb.
Nobody Markets Better than the NBA Does
I could spend hours writing on this topic. However, I’ll start with deals that have come about in the last week. PepsiCo and the league renewed their partnership, featuring an Anthony Davis Ruffles advertisement. Clorox is the Official Cleaning Partner of the NBA, which is quite timely considering the pandemic. Even Hennessy, the French cognac, is the league’s first official global spirits partner.
That’s just sponsors of the league. Of the 24 players playing in Sunday’s game, over two-thirds of them have 1 million followers or more on Instagram. Leading the way is Lebron James, who has almost 50 million more followers than the next athlete. The social media impact these players have can not go unnoticed.
The NBA does a terrific job of putting their players’ faces first when it comes to promoting or marketing an event. For example, the league has done an excellent job of promoting in Historically Black Colleges and Universities since the game is taking place in Atlanta. To help celebrate HBCU’s, the league released the video above to discuss the importance of these schools. It might not seem like a big deal, but it’s important everyone taking part.
The Skills Challenge was Fun!
This is what sports are all about. It’s all about having fun and creating something that people are going to watch. Subsequently, that’s what we saw on Sunday night as the league did a nice job of shortening All-Star weekend into one evening.
It started with Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers winning the Skills Challenge. Certainly. the 6’11 forward has some of the best skills in the NBA and that was on display Sunday night. He’ll look to continue his success as he’s averaging 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists with Indiana this season.
Steph Curry had a great start to the night when he took home the Three-Point Contest Champion for the second time in his career. In case you needed a reminder of how special this player is, he showed why he’s one of the greatest shooters of all-time. His Golden State Warriors will need him to play like he did tonight for the rest of the season as they are half a game back from the playoffs.
Finally, at halftime of the All-Star game, Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons won the 2021 Slam Dunk contest. The 21-year old defeated Pacers guard Cassius Stanley and New York Knicks rookie Obi Toppin for the first dunk contest win in Blazers history. Nice work from someone that’s less than six months older than me.
Winner, Winner, Giannis Served NBA All-Star Dinner
The All-Star game on Sunday topped off a perfect evening of basketball. The MVP of tonight’s game, Giannis Antetokounmpo, shot a perfect 16 for 16 with a game-high 35 points. He played a significant role in leading Team Lebron to victory as they won 170-150 over Team Durant.
In the game, Curry scored 28 points with eight three-pointers. Blazers guard Damian Lillard had 32 points, including knocking down the game-winner. He played an important part for his team, hitting timely shots when they needed them, and is still one of the most clutch shooters in the league. An awesome night for the Oakland, California native.
Notable members on the losing team include Kyrie Irving, who had 24 points and treated the game seriously for the most part. He showed great handles, solid passing (12 assists on Sunday), and excellent finishing ability around the basket. I was impressed by a couple of his one-handed layups that led to points. Credit also to Bradley Beal as he put up 26 points and shot 50% from three.
Final Thoughts
Should they have had an All-Star game this season? No, probably not. However, the NBA did what they always do well and that was to have fun. The players they promote and show off performed incredibly, with Giannis being the perfect example. Credit also goes to the league for their work on promoting HBCU’s and donating over $1.5 million to charity. It was a wonderful night and I look forward to watching the event next year.
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