Jeong provides his trademark goofy comic relief—he catches only a cocktail napkin from Johnson and later awkwardly asks for an intro to Larry Bird. As in other NBA work, there are Easter eggs for the superfans, like Breen’s famous catch phrase—“Bang!”—and a reference to Allen’s three-pointers from the corner.

Tourney momentum

“The Toast” drops as ratings for the playoffs have decreased slightly from 2023’s banner year, no doubt dinged by early exits by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors, two reliable audience draws. Meanwhile, live sports are all the rage in current upfront discussions for linear TV and streaming, prized for being appointment viewing in a highly fractured marketplace.

The campaign comes shortly after the league’s April promotion for the playoffs with an ad called “Playoff mode, it’s a thing.” The spot was narrated by Chris Rock and populated with current NBA stars; iconic players-turned-sportscasters such as Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley; rapper Lil Wayne; and others.

In the run-up to the finals, the league relaunched the Larry O’Brien Trophy tour, sending the hardware to rub shoulders with famous folks like Tom Brady, Mariah Carey, Fat Joe, Bad Bunny and UFC champions. It will continue to make the rounds of high-traffic destinations and glitterati meetups.

The trophy tour’s first year—in which it checked off a bucket list activity by skydiving into downtown Denver to be handed to the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets—snagged more than 200 million video views for its content and amassed nearly 100,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X.