Insights that the NBA has gleaned from its "Jr. NBA at Home" series will serve the league well in the future, according to one high-ranking exec. The interactive content series, which provides skills and drills for youth players, was created to keep players engaged and active during the hiatus imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. NBA Senior VP and Head of Youth Basketball David Krichavsky said, "We’ve seen that we can go direct to young players on a global-basis with instructional videos and leverage social media platforms to do that and have tremendous success doing that." He said the newly developed interactive content, which already has over 62 million views globally, "will remain a core part of our strategy" even after the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
NBA Senior Dir of Int’l Basketball Operations Chris EbersoleNBA
Meanwhile, NBA Senior Dir of Int’l Basketball Operations & Elite Basketball Chris Ebersole, who oversees NBA Academies, the league’s full-time residency program for top int’l prospects, cited a virtual initiative in which an Academy strength and conditioning coach led a healthy cooking challenge for students. "It’s something we probably never would have done outside of this context, but it’s something that we probably should have done," Ebersole said. NBA Senior VP/Social Responsibility & Player Programs Todd Jacobson added, "What we’ll learn from this moving forward is that there are a lot of ways to interact and engage."
