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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Every Wednesday, I break down the blueprint for basketball culture.

This 3-minute read shares the latest marketing and creator insights across the industry.

Let’s jump right into it…

CREATOR BLUEPRINT

This corporate basketball player got fired from his six figure job but it led him to the biggest entrepreneurship opportunity of his life.

Working a corporate job limits your time to pursue your dreams, especially when all you want to do is play basketball.

Hooping around-the-clock, when not at work, is actually how this creator built his entire personal brand with over 36K+ followers.

He played in New York City’s top streetball leagues before and after work but then when he was laid off, he was forced to sell his house to continue supporting his mission.

What sounds like a full court heave, is really a calculated bet on himself because he noticed that every supplement brand was built for lifters or runners.

Which meant basketball players didn’t have products designed for their unique demands.

So that’s why Will Custis aka Corporate Hooper co-founded HoopFuel.

Will and his co-founder spent over 7 months developing products with the world’s best supplement manufacturer—leading to HoopFuel products being made from the highest-quality clean ingredients.

Basketball players can now perform at their highest levels with HoopFuel, from AAU to the NBA, to weekend warriors.

This started as Will’s creator’s journey to inspire adult hoopers but now has turned into the foundation of the next multi-million dollar brand reshaping the sports industry.

The future of sports business belongs to creator entrepreneurs building audience-first, product-second and that's why I'm excited to join the HoopFuel team as an Advisor.

Will is building his creator-led brand by assembling an elite team of marketers, nutritionists, creators, and hoopers to help scale the brand into the next big sports performance nutrition company.

With an upcoming VC raise to fuel its next stage of growth, HoopFuel is building the premier collection of supplement products built for hoopers by hoopers.

FREE THROWS

Sharing the tools and resources that I’m using this week:

🏪 Stan Store - Gary Vee's latest investment is your all-in-one creator store, providing the necessary tools and resources to make money online without needing multiple tech stacks and different tools.

🧲 50 Most Magnetic Brands - dcdx, a Gen Z research and strategy agency, built their latest report on today’s most magnetic brands that have the power to attract organic conversation through UGC on social media.

🌐 Internet Archive - This nonprofit library, containing millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more, can help you find creative references for content, projects, and beyond.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🏀 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander graces the cover of GQ's "The 50 Most Stylish People Alive" to kick off the new NBA season.

💍 ESPN accidentally aired Nike Basketball’s commercial early during the third quarter of Game 4 of the Las Vegas Aces' WNBA Championship victory, but the Aces held on to their lead to win their third WNBA Championship in four years.

📲 The NBA announced a new 24/7 programming schedule on its NBA app that offers live games and exclusive content for the upcoming season.

👼🏾 Angel Reese becomes Victoria's Secret's first-ever professional athlete as she will walk the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, streaming live on Amazon Prime Video.

👟 Coach K narrated Jordan Brand's new spot for the launch of Jayson Tatum's Tatum 4 sneakers, while Tatum celebrated the occasion with a Foot Locker event in Boston.

🎬 The first trailer for Allen Iverson's upcoming docu-series on Prime Video has just been released. This three-part series explores Allen Iverson's journey from growing up in Virginia to becoming a global basketball icon and NBA MVP.

🏆 Fanatics announced the dates for Fanatics Fest 2026 as July 16-19, with Karl-Anthony Towns signing autographs on the street to mark the occasion.

🎙️ April McDaniel and Savannah James' popular podcast, "Everybody's Crazy," has a special “The Guy Friends” episode featuring LeBron James, Taco, Kai Cenat, and Fanum.

🥃 A fan is suing LeBron James over his “Decision 2” Hennessy ad after claiming he was misled by the video, which led him to buy tickets to an upcoming Lakers game, assuming it would be James' final retirement season.

🎮 Overtime Elite announced their newest team in partnership with FaZe Clan, the popular esports team and creators.

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POST-GAME

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you back here next week.

Make sure to follow the @HoopFuel journey and grab some HoopFuel!

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻