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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Let’s jump right into your weekly blueprint for basketball culture…

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

For Laughs or Chaos, Parody Sports Accounts Are Here To Stay

NBA Centel’s 24-hour ban just made parody accounts officially part of sports culture.

There's no going back anymore because we saw the basketball world react like we lost a family member.

Fans, teams, and even Stephen A. Smith treated it like a real tragedy.

The Kings, Rockets, Heat, Magic, and Pistons all paid tribute.

Plus we all know Kevin Durant is a Centel supporter.

You also probably missed this but Merriam-Webster made “Centel” an official verb.

That tells you that parody sports content isn’t just a trend anymore (CNN is writing about it!).

This evolution of meme culture is only going to get bigger and bigger in sports.

This parody-driven content is fueled by platforms that reward and incentivize views and engagement, giving credit to the originators of parody accounts.

They tap into the collective emotions of fans, remix real events with just enough absurdity, and post while the conversation is at its peak—making their content instantly shareable.

This isn’t just social media banter anymore—parody accounts now shape real narratives, with some audiences getting ‘centel’d’ into believing fake reports.

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

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🏀Under Armour Basketball made some major athlete announcements this week, including naming Nika Mühl as the brand’s "Secretary of Defense" and introducing their NIL class of college athletes, which includes UCLA’s Lauren Betts and Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford, as the Men’s and Women’s March Madness Tournaments get ready to kick off.

👑 LeBron has gone viral again (not for the Stephen A. Smith drama) but this time for a fan made R&B or L&B song that’s all over TikTok.

🐜 adidas previewed an early look at Anthony Edwards’ AE2 signature sneaker on their latest earnings call.

🥩 Amid his Twitter/X feud with Skip Bayless, Kevin Durant launches a protein-packed steak sandwich in collaboration with Joe & The Juice.

🥒 Vince Staples, Jayson Tatum and Jordan Brand dropped some satirical “face of the league” content, which was posted after the Celtics' big rivalry win over the Lakers.

🇺🇸 College basketball's biggest star has activated his Instagram for a series of sponCon posts (Jersey Mike's Subs, Uber Eats, New Era Cap, and New Balance), posting more times this week than he did from all of November through February.

🇵🇭 Nike Basketball and Sabrina Ionescu began their first Asia Tour, with the Philippines as the initial stop, before visiting Guangzhou and Hong Kong later this week.

🧱 The Jordan 4s are one of the most iconic basketball sneaker silhouettes of all time, and Nigel Sylvester has been building massive anticipation for his Brick by Brick special edition colorway. His latest marketing activation with Jordan Brand was the "Ann & Sons" pop-up shop, inspired by his mom taking him school shopping in Queens.

🐻 The Memphis Grizzlies released a documentary titled "Tony Allen: The Grindfather" ahead of his jersey retirement celebration.

🦶 Shoe brand XERO, specializing in "barefoot" footwear, is launching its first basketball shoe later this month and has signed Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart.

🧊 Trae Young and Sprite teamed up to assist on a Freeze and Desist spot for the Ice Trae celebration—subtle but creative diss at Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer.

🎓 UConn Men’s Basketball Coach Dan Hurley stated that 50% of college basketball players are considering the transfer portal. Will new NIL platforms like ROY help fans reward athletes to stay at their favorite schools?

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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 | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻