Wordle, Pokemon and playlists: Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Stephen Curry among players with memorable ASG campaigns

02/19/2022

If you’re curious how a Venn diagram might look of the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, Kendall Jenner and K-pop, then you’ve come to the right place.

NBA All-Star Weekend is here. The league’s midseason showcase will see some of the biggest stars meeting in Cleveland to play for bragging rights and to benefit multiple charities.

But before captains LeBron James and Kevin Durant picked their squads, several All-Stars were supported by social media campaigns to help ensure their spot on the roster. These posts targeted fans, who accounted for 50% of the final All-Star vote that determined the starters.

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker is among the several players who received a social media-charged boost. On Jan. 7, the 25-year-old guard received a loving endorsement from Jenner, whom he began dating in 2020. She took to Twitter, where she asked her 31.8 million followers to vote for Booker.

A host of teams and superstars looked to improve their favorite players’ shot at making the roster. Here are some of the memorable efforts:

Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young

Young was selected eighth overall in the All-Star draft by Team Durant. Atlanta’s creative campaign included a “SpongeBob Squarepants” meme reference and parody of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”

Brooklyn Nets

Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, James Harden

The Nets came up with their own version of “Wordle,” the daily word puzzle that has become quite popular among online users.

Brooklyn also created a mock-up tracklist complete with song titles inspired by the nicknames of its All-Stars.

Ironically, the NBA trade deadline coincided with the day of the All-Star draft, so Harden, named a reserve, was a member of the 76ers. This turn of events led to Captains James and Durant sharing a laugh during selection.

Charlotte Hornets

LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Terry Rozier

Remember the 1997 comedy flick “Good Burger” starring Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson? The Hornets decided to put their own spin on it with Buzz City Burger portraits that were influenced by the movie. Oddly enough, Rozier is the only one from the trio who was alive when the film was released.

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Cleveland Cavaliers
Jarrett Allen
Cleveland leaked a new Pokemon card, in favor of Allen, who was named as James Harden’s replacement by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic
Denver didn’t have to look far for a source of inspiration for Jokic’s All-Star campaign. The team’s social page compiled a couple of funny facial expressions by “The Joker” to get their point across.
Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins
Golden State capitalized off of Curry’s first game-winning buzzer-beater of his career with this tweet. Talk about a high-IQ play.
Wiggins finished with the fifth-highest fan vote total en route to his first All-Star selection. He also had a very vocal (and viral) supporter in BamBam, a member of K-pop boy band GOT7. The Thai musician posted on his Instagram that he was “very honored to be named as the Golden State Warriors’ Global Ambassador.”
His endorsement of Wiggins on Twitter was retweeted nearly 40,000 times.
It’s the best time to begin 2022! He is one of the best two-way players!
Wiggs deserves to be an All-Star, vote Andrew Wiggins into the 2022 NBA All-Star Game..and I can’t wait to meet you all very soon#AndrewWiggins #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/bpOXKAJ920
Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James
In the second week of fan voting, James’ total trailed Curry for most in the Western Conference. Lakers’ Twitter noticed that and got to work with a simple, yet effective post that earned plenty of engagement.
The next time fan voting totals were announced, James had a comfortable hold of first place with a cushion of over 800,000 votes.
Memphis Grizzlies
Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. The Grizzlies’ cartoon depiction of Morant was well-received among fans.
Memphis also dropped a post that featured art inspired by Atlanta-based rapper Gunna’s “Drip or Down 4” album cover.
Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid
Philly incentivized its fans to retweet with a lighthearted post. For every 200 retweets, it enlarged the size of Embiid in a photo. By the end of the thread, he towered out of the Wells Fargo Center and even made it to space.
Toronto Raptors
Fred VanVleet
Toronto’s mascot had a memorable interaction with Devin Booker when the two met on Jan 11. The Raptor caused such a ruckus behind the basket during Book’s clutch-time free throws that the referees relocated him to the sideline for a timeout.
The team’s Twitter page kept the jokes flowing and used the situation as fuel to boost VanVleet’s vote total.
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