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NBA Becomes First Sports League to Put Its Twitter Handle on Every Game Ball

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Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (rear) with forward Dirk Nowitzki of Germany during an NBA game against the Washington Wizards in January 2013.
Image: Nick Wass/Associated Press

When the 2014-2015 NBA season tips off this fall, the league’s official game ball will still be that familiar orange-brown hue. It will still be made by Spalding and will still have the same feel as last year.

But the ball will come with one change — a minor one, but one that speaks volumes to how heavily the NBA has adopted and benefitted from social media in recent years.

The NBA announced that it will imprint its social media handle — @NBA on all major networks — on official game balls, proclaiming the move a pro sports first.

NBABall

The NBA’s official game ball will feature its social media handle for the first time.

Image: NBA

It may not seem like a huge deal, but the NBA’s new marketing twist does signify the increasingly intertwined digital and physical segments of the pro sports world. It’s also appropriate for a league that has found success on social media like few, if any, of its peers.

“First and foremost, it’s really about acknowledging our social media-savvy fans,” Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, the NBA’s senior vice president of digital media, told Mashable via email. “The ball is the instantly-recognizable symbol of our game, and now our fans have a place there too, where they belong.”

The NBA claims 660 million social media followers, rolling together league, team and player accounts across networks and countries. The league says its official @NBA accounts have 25 million Facebook fans, nearly 11 million Twitter followers, over 3 million Instagram followers and 72 million total followers on Chinese social networks.

LeBron James, not surprisingly, is the league’s most popular player online. With more than 20 million Facebook fans, 13 million Twitter followers and 6 million Instagram followers, he outpaces the league on the latter two social networks.

So how did the league and its players amass such a massive social following?

“It’s probably a combination of things,” Brenner told Mashable. “First, it is our tech-savvy and prolific players; second, we work very hard to provide our young and passionate fans with all the information, stats and highlights they tell us they want; and third, it is our leadership — starting with our commissioner Adam Silver — that encourages us to use new tools in order to continually enhance the fan experience.”

Those millions upon millions of fans will be represented in NBA games starting this fall. Social media handles have become ubiquitous in arenas and stadiums in every sport, but don’t be surprised to see more leagues follow the NBA’s lead and stamp them on actual game balls in the future.

15 YouTube Videos of NBA Stars Dominating in High School

  1. 1. Derrick Rose

    The Chicago Bulls point guard starred at the Windy City’s Simeon Career Academy in high school before playing one season of college ball then getting picked first overall by his hometown pro team in the 2008 NBA Draft. He was league MVP in 2011, and is currently on the road to recovery from a serious knee injury.

    As a high schooler, he was the top-ranked player in the country. This video, which has over 2.6 million YouTube views, makes it easy to understand why.

  2. 2. Vince Carter

    Before becoming the rather husky swingman you see in Dallas today, Carter was known as “Air Canada” for his high-flying exploits as a Toronto Raptor. Before that, he starred at the University of North Carolina. Before that, he dunked all over helpless youngsters as a Florida high school legend.

  3. 3. James Harden

    The Oklahoma City Thunder guard is known as much for his epic beard as smooth game today. But just a few years ago, he was a baby-faced prep star leading Artesia High School to back-to-back California state championships.

  4. 4. LeBron James

    This Ohio news report on a local high school sophomore by the name of LeBron James is priceless today. From coaches speculating that he might make the NBA one day, to his earnest interviews, it’s amazing to compare this with the global icon we know today. Newsman Brad Forster, who you see in the clip, uploaded it to his personal YouTube channel in 2010.

  5. 5. John Wall

    Wall starred at the University of Kentucky for one season before becoming the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft. This compilation is from his senior year of high school at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, is pretty freaking sweet and has 6.8 million views on YouTube.

  6. 6. Jason Kidd

    What makes this highlight reel even more impressive? It all comes from one game, when Kidd led St. Joseph’s High School from Alameda, California, to the 1992 state championship. He then went on to star at Cal and is currently wrapping up his Hall of Fame career with the New York Knicks.

  7. 7. Brandon Jennings

    Jennings is a budding star for the Milwaukee Bucks. This video, which has more than 1.3 million YouTube views, shows him as a high schooler dominating for Oak Hill Academy and in various club team tournaments.

  8. 8. Kyrie Irving

    After being this awesome in high school, Irving played one year at Duke, became the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, then won the league’s Rookie of the Year award in 2012.

    This video of his high school exploits has earned more than 1.5 million YouTube views.

  9. 9. Anthony Davis

    Davis, the first overall pick of the June’s draft, is being counted on to help lead the New Orleans Hornets back to respectability. This is him destroying all comers during his senior year at Chicago’s Perspectives Charter School way back in 2010 and 2011.

  10. 10. Austin Rivers

    Davis will be joined in New Orleans by Rivers, another highly touted rookie. He’s the son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, and is seen here killing it at Winter Park High School in Florida as a senior in 2010 and 2011. The impressive mix has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube.

  11. 11. Damian Lillard

    Who’s that, you ask? Lillard, the sixth overall pick of June’s NBA Draft, is a trendy pick among many analysts to take home the Rookie of the Year award this year. This is him back at Oakland High School in the Bay Area of California.

  12. 12. Rajon Rondo

    So Rondo’s been doing that fake behind-the-back move forever! This is the current Celtics star during his final year of high school ball, in 2004 at national basketball power Oak Hill Academy.

  13. 13. Josh Smith

    Rondo was joined at Oak Hill that season by current Atlanta Hawks star Josh Smith. Now that’s what’s called an unfair advantage.

  14. 14. Carmelo Anthony

    A couple years before that, current New York Knick Carmelo Anthony played for Oak Hill and, yeah, he was pretty good and dunked a lot, too.

  15. 15. Amar’e Stoudemire

    And here’s Anthony’s current Knicks teammate Stoudemire completely taking a bunch of high schoolers to well, school, as a prep in Orlando, Florida. All these dunks and blocks, from just four games. What are you supposed to do against a kid like that?

Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/07/31/nba-social-media-handle-game-ball/

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