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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Sharing your weekly blueprint for basketball culture…

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

These two NBA legends are growth hacking social media for their own businesses.

Which is cool to see two retired players be on the cutting edge of social media marketing trends.

While most athlete-led brands are still relying on traditional paid media efforts, Tracy McGrady and SHAQ are using WHOP’s creator rewards to get massive promotional reach for a tiny fraction of the usual cost.

Their content is currently being distributed all over social media thanks to a pay-per-view UGC model that only rewards creators based on performance.

This new strategy is called “clipping” where creators get paid to post highlights from TMac’s OBL league and Shaq’s new music as DJ Diesel.

This is the evolution of content marketing at scale, as this playbook has been successfully run by the likes of Drake, Druski, Fanatics, and other sports brands.

FREE THROWS

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

💰 Dude Perfect’s Business - Colin and Samir create an in-depth video explaining the $100M business model behind Dude Perfect, which started in 2009 as a trick shots YouTube channel.

🎬 Instagram Edits - Instagram released a video editing app that offers creators a free platform with tools and features similar to those of CapCut, a competitor owned by TikTok.

🤖 Formula Bot - Formula Bot has had back-to-back viral March Madness campaigns, establishing itself as an industry leader in AI data analysis, making it easier and faster for you to transform your data.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

💞 Nike dropped an incredible commercial spot with A’ja Wilson, which was directed by Malia Obama.

🐜 adidas crowned Anthony Edwards the King Slayer after he defeated LeBron, Luka, and the Lakers. Ant is lining up the NBA’s OGs after taking down KD last playoffs, LeBron this year, and now potentially Stephen Curry.

🦚 NBC Sports announced the return of its ‘Roundball Rock’ theme song for NBA coverage next season and that Carmelo Anthony will join their studio analyst team.

🎟️ Caitlin Clark’s preseason opener in Iowa (Indiana Fever vs Brazil) had an average ticket price of $670, making it the most expensive game Clark has ever played in—either professionally or collegiately.

🎤 Amazon has announced its NBA talent and broadcasting team for next season, including Steve Nash, Stan Van Gundy, Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker, Taylor Rooks, Blake Griffin, and Dirk Nowitzki.

👗 LeBron announced that Savannah James will be replacing him in the All-Star Met Gala Game after suffering from a knee injury and she showed up in custom Hanifa.

📈 The value of WNBA player cards is going up as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers round out the top 5 list of PSA’s Most Collected WNBA Cards.

☘️ The sale of the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion will be finalized in the coming days, as lead buyer Bill Chisholm’s group now has enough money to cover the cost of the deal.

🏀 Top podcast shows Million Dollaz Worth of Game and Club 520 faced off in a basketball live stream as creators and personalities continue the rise of live sports streaming entertainment.

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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 | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻