Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

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Let’s dive right into it…

CREATOR BLUEPRINT

This might be basketball’s most marketable person, but he barely played in college and never made it to the pros.

Chris Brickley built a media empire with more followers than most NBA players by making a strategic content shift years ago:

Back when Instagram prioritized grids and photos, he doubled down on video content, putting himself ahead of the curve when the social platform shifted their algorithms to prioritize Reels.

That strategic bet helped him become the first basketball trainer to sign a multi year shoe deal with Puma.

But Chris Brickley’s Creator Blueprint was far from an overnight success story.

His playbook has been over a decade in the making, as he documents his life and career in public.

He celebrates his wins, but he also openly shares his struggles, losses, and personal grief.

His authentic storytelling secured unique partnerships to maximize his name, image, and likeness.

He works with top brands such as the NBA, Google Pixel, BMW, BodyArmor, AT&T, and Wilson.

Every year, he also gives back to his New Hampshire community with a court refurbishment and also hosts his own high school All-American game.

His mantra, "Keep Going and Keep Growing," isn’t just a shoe detail but an inspiration to millions across the world.

He’s shown his followers that if you stay focused, anything is possible, as he went from sleeping on couches to training LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Drake, and Justin Bieber.

When you consistently build in public and post without a filter, your audience roots for you to win.

This isn’t just a masterclass on NIL deals; it's a lesson in Chris Brickley’s personal brand building on a global level in sports.

FREE THROWS

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

🤖 Notion Agents - My favorite tool just introduced its AI Agents that help build, edit, and take actions on different workflows for you automatically.

🎧 Aime Leon Dore Sound - ALD Sound is a great example of how brands can create unique content and premium experiences beyond their day-to-day products.

🎾 Wimbledon’s Social Strategy - Great insights into Wimbledon's social media strategy, analyzed by Rachel Karten.

FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🏆 A'ja Wilson becomes the first player ever to win the WNBA MVP award four times, and her brand partners, Gatorade and Nike Basketball, dropped these social posts (and t-shirts) to celebrate the moment.

🐜 adidas Basketball officially announced October 4th as the release date for the Anthony Edwards 2 sneaker and launched a new campaign following their massive success of the AE1.

👟 Angel Reese's Reebok signature shoe sold out within hours of its launch, with all three colorways officially unavailable on the brand’s website.

5️⃣ Season 2 of Starting 5, featuring Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton and James Harden, will premiere exclusively on Netflix beginning October 16.

👑 LeBron James sat down with Complex’s Speedy Morman in China for an interview as part of Nike Basketball’s Forever King LeBron 23 sneaker tour.

🏀 Unrivaled is officially in Season 2 mode as they start unveiling new players to their league, including Paige Bueckers, Satou Sabally and others. Follow their socials for the official player and team rollouts.

🎥 Amazon Prime Video is releasing a three-part docuseries “ALLEN IV3RSON” that shares Allen Iverson's story, from his childhood to becoming an NBA MVP and cultural icon.

👯‍♀️ Boardroom sat down with Minnesota Lynx Guards Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman aka Studbudz right before the playoffs to talk about their fast journey to success as Twitch streamers and creators.

🍦 KITH Treats is releasing a special Toronto-exclusive signature ice cream, The First Drop, by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to celebrate the launch of the Converse SHAI 001.

👕 And1 is bringing back their iconic and popular '90s and early 2000s trash-talk tees.

POST-GAME

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

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- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻