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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Every Wednesday at 9:36 AM EST, I break down the blueprint for basketball culture, covering industry insights, marketing strategies, and creator tools and resources.

Let’s get started…

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

For one week every summer, the basketball world gathers in one place.

From fans and athletes to media and business executives, here’s how brands took advantage of that opportunity during NBA Summer League:

🏀 Nike Basketball created a Ja 4 court at both the boys' and EYBL girls' tournaments to help officially unveil the signature athlete sneaker.

4️⃣ Foot Locker provided early access to the Ja 4s at an EYBL Las Vegas pop-up event, with Ja Morant in attendance as he sold the first 12 pairs to his fans.

1️⃣ Nasir Core defeated another NBA alumnus in a 1v1 battle as Ball Is Life hosted their latest pay-per-view event with AirPLAi Sports and Ballislife Hydration.

🤳 PlayStation and the NBA hosted their annual Creator Cup game, featuring top basketball creators such as MDMotivator, YPK Raye, Cam Wilder, Jenna Bandy, Mariah Linney, Lynadia Whiting, Bree Green, and more.

📚 NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made a special guest appearance at the Sports Business Classroom, an annual summit bringing the business of basketball to the Las Vegas Summer League.

📹 GameChanger partnered with top creators Bebida.Tailgate, Brianna Green, and Strictlybball to help amplify their streaming and stats partnership with EYBL Girls and elevate the event with an interactive activation experience.

🎬 The annual NBA Summer League Film Festival was headlined by the new documentary "The Most Hated Man in Gaming: The Story of How Ronnie Singh Became Ronnie2K."

👟 Kyrie Irving’s Uncle Drew Circuit partnered with Big Foot Hoops to create a unique AAU experience powered by Kyrie's brand partners, Anta and Deuce Brand.

⏭️ Chicago Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson shared a behind-the-scenes video of the NBPA’s Rookie Transition Program event, which is hosted in conjunction with the NBA.

🎮 The NBA 2K League hosted a $50,000 tournament to find the league’s best gamer, featuring Paolo Banchero, Keyonte George, Dyson Daniels, Jeremiah Fears, Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr., Michael Porter Jr., and Andre Drummond competing against each other.

🎉 The Los Angeles Clippers brought over 100 members of The Swell, the standing-only fan section located behind the basket, for a special Summer League experience that included athlete appearances, interactive brand moments, and more.

Expense receipts shouldn't require a search party

Adam spent 20 minutes looking for a $36 receipt. His finance team sent three Slack messages. Someone made a sticky note.

Ramp would have matched it automatically the moment he swiped. Auto-coded, in-policy, synced. Nobody had to ask Adam for anything.

This is what finance looks like when it runs itself.

Your team can be Adam. Or they can not be Adam.

Don’t be like Adam

FREE THROWS

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

📲 Creatorverse - Weekly newsletter breaking down B2C marketing strategy of brands shaping tomorrow's culture on social media.

💼 Sports Jobs - A curated list of jobs across the sports industry released every Monday morning.

🏦 Mercury - Powerful banking tool and tech stack for modern day creator-led businesses.

You're already following all of this. Kalshi pays you.

Governor races. Senate runoffs. Billboard charts. Celebrity news. Rotten Tomatoes scores. Kalshi has real-money markets on all of it. Every price reflects what the crowd actually thinks will happen next. If you're already following politics and culture closely, you're already doing the work. Kalshi lets you act on it.

Trade what you know

_{Trade responsibly.}

POST-GAME

Thanks for reading! Here are a few ways we can stay connected:

🤝 Partner With Me: I work with brands, athletes and creators across their brand strategy, digital media, creator programs, partnerships, and marketing growth. Interested in working together? Get in touch here.

📊 Be First: I’m building Future Blueprint Sports — the definitive discovery and intelligence platform for sports marketing and creator culture. Get early access today.

👋 Stay Connected: Enjoyed this newsletter? Share it with a friend or colleague. Also follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok for more sports marketing and creator insights.

Thanks and see you later this week!

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻