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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

This will be a quick newsletter as I’m still catching up on getting over whatever daycare bug I caught but quick question:

FREE THROWS

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

💍 Instagram Rings - A new awards program from Instagram features an influential panel of judges who will celebrate creators who take chances and produce content in their own unique way.

💰 OWM - A new platform for founders and creators to partner by exchanging influence for equity, allowing creators to gain a stake in a company's success in return for their distribution and customer trust.

🤖 Sora - The creators of ChatGPT, OpenAI, have just launched their hyper-realistic video mobile app (think an AI TikTok), which generates short-form video clips in seconds from user prompts. It is currently invite-only with access via a code—I gave a few codes away on my Instagram yesterday and will share more soon.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🍹 LeBron surprised everyone when he announced a "Decision 2" was coming. While the world feared it might be a retirement announcement, it turned out to be just a Hennessy ad instead.

🤯 Napheesa Collier’s exit interview, where she called out WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, is the moment we’ll look back on as having changed the history of the WNBA as they enter a monumental CBA negotiation period. If you need a full recap of the latest developments and what’s going on, there’s a great read here.

✅ Ahead of the high school and college basketball season, Nike Basketball announced its newest NIL Class, including Aaliyah Chavez, Tyran Stokes, and Brandon McCoy Jr.

👑 Nike Basketball has begun to roll out the LeBron 23, which includes 23 upcoming colorways and unique stories tied to the King’s legendary career. One moment that didn’t make the campaign, was him cutting Kai Cenat's hair to end Mafiathon 3 and celebrating the streamer’s accomplishment of reaching 1 million subscribers.

🏀 Unrivaled announced that their inaugural tour stop is coming to Philly on January 30, 2026, in partnership with Xfinity.

🏎️ Students from the Jordan Brand's Wings program had the opportunity to meet Michael Jordan and design their own custom 23XI Racing Car.

👟 Ja Morant and Nike Basketball created a unique surprise-and-delight moment on Twitter by informing a select few consumers that they would cover the cost of their custom Ja 3 By You sneakers.

🪿 Canada Goose and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander partnered to unveil a new capsule collection, reimagining the brand's heritage pieces with SGA's personal touch.

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POST-GAME

Thanks for reading—I’ll see you back here next week!

And if you enjoyed reading today’s newsletter, please share it with one friend.

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻