Morant is among a number of NBA players who created TikTok accounts since the league was suspendedNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
With the status of sports in the U.S. and abroad "unclear," opportunity exists for a "ton of stars sitting on the proverbial bench who could, very quickly, help to create content to fill some of the dead air," according to Ryan Barwick of ADWEEK. Columbia Univ. professor and Sports Marketing Consultant Joe Favorito said, "If you’re an interesting athlete that wants to engage with fans, you can probably now show off your personality more than you could during the season.” Barwick noted in the NBA, LeBron James, 76ers G Matisse Thybulle and Grizzlies G Ja Morant already have "created TikTok accounts since the suspension of league play." Meanwhile, in MLB, Mets 1B Pete Alonso tweeted on Wednesday that if he "reached 50,000 retweets, he’d stream himself and teammates playing MLB The Show." Octagon Senior VP/Global Media Rights Consulting Daniel Cohen said, "You’re going to see a rise in social casting: athletes and teams working together with broadcasters to find new, innovative ways to have live programming that won’t be live games" (ADWEEK.com, 3/19).
TIME KEEPS TICKING: In Chicago, Jamal Collier noted Bulls F Chandler Hutchison has "found an outlet to help show off his personality and keep him busy: He started making videos on TikTok." Hutchison started his account "only a few weeks ago" -- before the NBA suspended its season -- and "already has gained more than 97,500 followers after his third video went viral." As of Monday, the video had been "played more than 14.5 million times with 2.3 million likes." Hutchison last week said, “It’s cool because it’s a way to show a different side other than just the basketball. It’s funny because I’ve gotten a lot of following through TikTok from people that probably don’t even know that I am a professional basketball player" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/18).
