NBA Tipoff Ad Passes League’s Future to Young Players and Creators

It’s a new era for the NBA, and its marketing is reflecting that.

We’re still a little less than a month away from the start of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season and the 11 games that comprise Kia NBA Tip-Off 2024, but players have reported to training camp and preseason and international exhibitions in Abu Dhabi and Montreal are looming. 

It’s the last year under the NBA’s old media deal before it heads into its still-contentious new agreements with NBCU, Amazon, and ESPN—which means the league still starts with two doubleheaders each on TNT and ESPN and a tripleheader on NBA TV from Oct. 22 through Oct. 26. It’s also the first year since young stars Jayson Tatum and Luka Dončić faced off in the NBA Finals, where Tatum’s Boston Celtics defeated Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks for their NBA-record 18th title. 

Last season, after making the NBA Finals in six of the last ten seasons and winning four titles, the Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs with a group of core players—Draymond Green (34), Klay Thompson (34), and Stephen Curry (36)—in their mid-30s. Former Warriors star Kevin Durant (35) and his Phoenix Suns were swept out of the playoffs in the first round, while four-time NBA Champion LeBron James (39) and his Los Angeles Lakers managed only one win in a first-round series loss to the Denver Nuggets.

If discussions about the NBA’s transition to a new generation of players weren’t enough, the league itself is driving the point home with its season-opening campaign. Directed by Mike Warzin and produced by the NBA with help from creative partners Translation, the spot features relatively wizened two-time NBA Champion Kawhi Leonard (33) facing off against two-time NBA All-Star and Minnesota Timberwolves playoff powerhouse Anthony Edwards (23).

Three-time Miami Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo tries to push Edwards aside just before a diminutive San Antonio Spurs fan calls for the ball. That spurs the opening notes of Van Halen’s 40-year-old synth-rock anthem “Jump” and a rush of fans to the court in various eras of throwback gear. Influencer, podcaster, and author Drew Afualo makes the dash with Grammy winner Kelly Rowland.

Tatum (26) announces the reigning champions’ presence, while 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama (20) from the Spurs waves him off. Loud New York Knicks fans draw a sigh from Adebayo while streamer Kai Cenat posts a video from the middle of a stampede. 

From his seat on one of the hoops, Dončić (25) passes the ball to Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky in midair before it’s returned to the referee. In just over a minute, the NBA lets viewers know that its fandoms, its followers from various corners of media, and its new generation of talent—who are an average of 26 years old in this spot—are all its most valuable players heading into the 2024-25 season.

“We wanted to elevate fan favorites and make sure that we have some of the biggest stars and biggest names, and we’re showcasing the high-level competition that we expect from the season,” said NBA CMO Tammy Henault. “But we’re definitely starting to elevate more and more of our new fresh faces and some of the younger stars.”

NBA 365

The fifth and decisive game of the 2024 NBA Finals was played on June 17. By July, the NBA and its partners were in Las Vegas shooting this ad around the USA Basketball Showcase of pre-Olympics exhibition games.

Shot in a ballroom at the Bellagio with more than 100 extras of diverse ages and audiences playing fans of different teams, the spot was filmed in tandem with ads for the league’s NBA Emirates Cup in-season tournament that doesn’t begin until mid-November. It also required some additional shots to accommodate Dončić’ and Wembanyama—whose Slovenian and French national teams weren’t in town for the event. 

As for the celebrity appearances, Rowland’s history with the NBA dates back to being booed with Destiny’s Child at the 2001 NBA Finals in Philly before bringing the house down at the All-Star Game in Phoenix four years later and again in Houston in 2006. While Henault said Cenat represents an opportunity to reach out to more avid NBA fans, Afualo offers an audience of more casual fans that the NBA has been trying to reach earlier in the season through the in-season tournament and other efforts.

“We always like to pull in cameos as celebrities who are just fans of the league and friends of the league, so it was pretty easy to hone in on the mix of talent,” Henault said. “Using content creators is just a great, authentic way to reach our broader audience that already skews heavily multicultural and Gen Z.”

As the NBA season draws closer, the campaign will branch off into more targeted spots, focusing on different storylines and vignettes for various corners of the NBA’s audience. The league is also supplementing its linear television and digital video spots with jump-ball poster art that will start cropping up closer to game time. The various elements helped the NBA answer a question about its growing, increasingly international audience.

“How do we celebrate the broad NBA basketball community coming together with that anticipation and excitement for tipoff and showcase the diversity of fandom?” Henault said.