Viewers who followed the inaugural In-Season Tournament will likely note at least one Easter egg in the new hero spot: Davis and Haliburton went toe to toe with their respective teams for the trophy in 2023, with the Lakers coming out on top.
“The Heist II” scenario has Davis celebrating the win with a few bottles of bubbly in his fancy hotel suite, while guarding the glitzy cup. His fellow competitors, meanwhile, are cooking up various schemes to steal it from him like scaling the building (Holiday), climbing an elevator shaft (Gilgeous-Alexander), and scuba diving through the Bellagio fountain (Curry).
But as Imperioli and Dawson note, the trophy can’t be swiped. It has to be earned on the court.
The new spot, directed by Paul Hunter, includes icons Curry and Davis while being “highly focused on elevating” the younger players who are stepping into the spotlight, Henault said. The mix is part of an ongoing push from the league, evident in the recent season launch campaign called “The Tip-Off.”
Pick and roll
While the name is different—via a multi-year deal with sponsor Emirates airline—the 2024 tourney itself remains largely unchanged from its 2023 outing. Scheduling has been slightly tweaked for a longer playoff window in Vegas, which builds in more time for fan attendance and content creator participation, Henault said.
Group play begins on Nov. 12 with a doubleheader on TNT featuring the New York Knicks versus the Philadelphia 76ers, followed by the Golden State Warriors hosting the Dallas Mavericks.
In adding the tournament in 2023, the league intended to amp its ratings (both for the event and for regular season games), while expanding its fandom. Results indicate it was a solid move. The championship game between the Pacers and Lakers averaged 4.58 million viewers on ABC and ESPN2, up 46% from the prior year’s NBA game in a comparable TV window, per Nielsen.
