🧔 ICYMI: Basketball Culture Insights - December 26, 2025

How MARTY SUPREME infiltrated hoops culture

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Welcome to The Baseline!

Today is your post-Christmas 3-minute read to catch you up on what you missed this week in basketball culture.

Let’s get right into it…

FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

šŸŽ¬ TimothĆ©e Chalamet had the entire internet talking about the MARTY SUPREME marketing rollout, as basketball culture was a significant pillar of their strategy. The exclusive movie jacket appeared on Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry; Chalamet also appeared on Melo’s 7PM In Brooklyn podcast; and even played ping pong one-on-one with the NBA and Metta World Peace.

🪮 Jaylen Brown turned his viral hair jokes into a new partnership with Nutrafol Men as he starts a new journey with their hair growth supplements.

šŸ“ŗ Jesser, one of basketball’s biggest YouTubers, took over ā€œNot Top 10ā€ on ESPN’s Sportscenter as traditional broadcast networks look to integrate creators into their programming.

šŸŒŽ The Detroit Pistons extend their partnership with Big Sean as the franchise’s Creative Director of Global Experiences.

šŸ’ˆ adidas Basketball lined up Jalen Williams for an interview with popular creator and barber VicBlends to pull back to the curtain on JDub’s story from humble beginnings to NBA Champion.

šŸŽ° A new film, "48 Hours in Vegas," is in development, starring LaKeith Stanfield as Dennis Rodman. It offers a comedic look at Rodman's iconic 1998 Las Vegas escape during the Chicago Bulls' Finals run.

🐺 Kevin Garnett is rejoining the Minnesota Timberwolves in a new specialty Team Ambassador role across business, community, fan engagement and content.

šŸ‘Ÿ Jordan Brand’s newest NIL athlete, Kiyan Anthony, goes sneaker shopping with Complex as he shares stories about his relationship with his dad, Michael Jordan, and hooping at Syracuse.

ā˜Žļø Puma Hoops is bringing back their 1-877-Bucketz campaign to give fans an opportunity to dial-in and leave a voicemail on which Puma athlete should be an NBA All-Star.

šŸ€ GameChanger and Dick’s Sporting Goods have just announced a middle school AAU tournament, the GameChanger Challenge, across four markets that will reward four local divisions with a $5,000 cash prize for each AAU program.

If your AAU program wants to register for free, reply ā€œGAMECHANGERā€ and I’ll send you all the info to sign up.

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important ā€œsafe spaceā€ as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

THE POINT FORWARD

This is the section of our newsletter where I point out one thing worth sharing with someone in your network—whether it’s a job, a resource, or just an idea or inspiration.

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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 | šŸ€šŸ’”šŸ‘ØšŸ»ā€šŸ’»

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