In partnership with

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…

CREATOR BLUEPRINT

This sports agents makes $111 million in commission but he celebrated by launching a TikTok.

Most agents avoid the spotlight, keeping their playbooks private, and many don’t even have a social media presence.

But Rich Paul has always been disruptive doing things his way.

He’s just as much a creator as he is the agent that’s negotiated over $4 billion of deals for the world’s biggest superstars like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Darius Garland, De’Aaron Fox, Draymond Green, Brandon Ingram, Zach LaVine and Tyrese Maxey.

Whether he’s a guest on a live stream or podcast, he’s giving away free insights across every piece of content thats posted.

He publicly shares the same info and playbooks that helped him build his business empire.

He’s the CEO of Klutch, a major sports agency that represents numerous prominent athletes in the NBA, NFL, and other leagues.

He partnered with the United Talent Agency (UTA) in 2019, becoming the Co-Head of its Sports division.

He also co-founded Adopt, a global sports and culture-focused marketing agency that was recently acquired by Publicis.

And he has his own sneakers and apparel brand, Klutch Athletics, in partnership with New Balance.

This is one of his most unique gems of insights from his recent stream with Tylil James:

Because he understands that most people only get the ball once, so it’s important to share the blueprint to the next generation so they know what to do next with it.

FREE THROWS

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

📶 Cluely Virality - Roy Lee, the CEO of Cluely, the viral AI startup that has been gaining significant attention on tech Twitter, wrote a blog post about how he has amassed hundreds of millions of views and everything he has learned about going viral and growing startups.

📧 Profitable Newsletter Growth - Use the exact playbook on how to grow and monetize a newsletter from the newsletter specialist team at Better Letter.

📇 Atria - This is your 24/7 AI ad strategist that leverages analytics to identify winning assets and comprehensive data analysis all in one place.

You can (easily) launch a newsletter too

This newsletter you couldn’t wait to open? It runs on beehiiv — the absolute best platform for email newsletters.

Our editor makes your content look like Picasso in the inbox. Your website? Beautiful and ready to capture subscribers on day one.

And when it’s time to monetize, you don’t need to duct-tape a dozen tools together. Paid subscriptions, referrals, and a (super easy-to-use) global ad network — it’s all built in.

beehiiv isn’t just the best choice. It’s the only choice that makes sense.

Start free today. No credit card required.

FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

👟 Puma and Foot Locker partnered to give fans early access to the Hali 1s by opening a Hali Mart pop-up shop, an interactive deli experience in Indianapolis with designer Salehe Bembury.

👑 Kai Cenat fulfilled his promise that LeBron James would cut his hair on the last and 30th day of his Mafiathon 3 stream if he reached 1 million subscribers.

🧃 Sprite and Anthony Edwards are rolling out their newest campaign together with Professor Edwards teaching the Sprite School of Obeydience.

6️⃣7️⃣ Taylen Kinney, top-ranked high school basketball prospect and OTE star, committed to Kansas but introduced eight different canned colorways of his popular 67 Water, allowing fans to vote on which school he would commit to.

🎬 Kyrie Irving released the first episode of "Life of Kai," his new mini-docu-series, in which he documents his life on and off the court as he recovers from his ACL injury.

🎙️ Boardroom and Yahoo Sports launched their new show, "Network," hosted by Rich Kleiman, with the premiere episode featuring Mark Cuban.

🏭 iShowSpeed continues his tour across America, stopping in Phoenix where he got an exclusive look at Devin Booker's personal sneaker warehouse.

⛳️ Golf fans were all tuned in to the Ryder Cup, while basketball fans got a preview of the passing of the torch when Michael Jordan and Cooper Flagg linked up.

⏮️ The Philadelphia 76ers are paying tribute to the 2001 Eastern Conference Championship Team with new Hardwood Classic uniforms and matching court to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the team.

🗓️ All 30 NBA teams have officially had their media day, which means we are 20 days away from NBA opening night tip off on October 21st.

How 15 Small Brands Achieved Remarkable Marketing Results

Stop believing you need a big budget to make an impact. Our latest collection highlights 15 small brands that transformed limited resources into significant market disruption through innovative thinking.

• Case studies revealing ingenious approaches to common marketing challenges

• Practical tactics that delivered 900%+ ROI with minimal investment

• Strategic frameworks for amplifying your brand without amplifying your budget

These actionable insights can be implemented immediately, regardless of your team or budget size. See how small brands are making big waves in today's market.

Get the case studies for free here.

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 | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻