The great fight for the ring

Less than a month before the beginning of the Playoffs, which are scheduled for April 16, the conferences begin to outline their candidates for the title. Some are already thinking about the postseason, like the Miami Heat who lead the East, or the Phoenix Suns who command the actions of the West side, thinking of reaching June 2 for the Finals, others do the math to know how many games they have to win. so as not to go on vacation too early.

In the NBA it is not enough to win the title by being the teams that sell the most jerseys, or that have the most figures, but ask Lebron James's Los Angeles Lakers, leaders in sales, but with an uncertain future after suffering the lack of play in much of this championship that positions him among the last classified rows, to this day. If they don't want to go out in the first round like in the previous season, they fell 4-2 at the hands of the Suns, they will have to adjust their pieces a lot for the end of the regular season.

If we talk about NBA Clothing , we cannot leave out another of the most acclaimed by the public, as is the figure of the Slovenian Luka Doncic, second in the ranking of most clothing sold. The Dallas Mavericks shooting guard has managed to command the actions of his squad to rank fifth and practically have his ticket to the postseason sealed.

The one who fell a few places in the consideration of NBA lovers is the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, champion of the 2020-2021 season with his Milwaukee Bucks, who will seek to repeat the ring this year and are currently third in the Eastern Conference. The 27-year-old Wing-Pivot's NBA Jersey is no longer sold as much, and he is in fifth place in the official ranking diagrammed by the commercial area of the League.

The NBA divers are another of the favorite garments that fans usually buy, where in addition to the Lakers, Kevin Durant's Brooklyn Nets and Stephen Curry's Golden State stand out from the rest of the teams. The Chicago Bulls, with their characteristic bull and their automatic association with the figure of Michael Jordan, do not go out of style either and are also among the franchises that sell the most clothing.

Just by typing “NBA Men 's Sweatshirt” in your search engine, you will find an infinity of options that each team places on the market for its own fans, as well as for NBA lovers in general.

One of the big winners last season in regards to merchandising was the Phoenix Suns who jumped from 16th to 3rd place in market consideration, thanks to the performances of their stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker that led the team to the Finals, and this season in addition to having the best record, they will go in search of getting rid of the thorn and this time they will be able to achieve the long-awaited ring in mid-June.

The NBA is more than a basketball league

To define the NBA we must go beyond the merely sports analysis, since in addition to being the most competitive basketball league in the world, we have to think of it directly as a Global Marketing strategy. The NBA today is like a multitasking company that, in addition to basketball, also offers shows, merchandising of what you can imagine, with a global arrival of the transmissions of its matches, surely becoming the team sporting event that offers the greatest spectacle, for above all other sports.

If we talk about merchandising, the jerseys are the mother logo of this brand, which is why each franchise uses four different models per season, and three of the original ones in the league (Knicks, Warriors and Celtics) had up to a fifth. That's just about game jerseys, then we have shirts, jumpsuits, jackets, pants, hats, jackets and even face masks.

The great contribution the NBA receives from television rights, and that is why the date where you can have a significant change is in 2024 when you must sign a new contract. The league aspires to be able to close 75 billion dollars, with an auction system quite similar to the one used by the American football NFL, considerably changing the form of distribution between the franchises and directly proportional to the players.

To measure so much money that moves this league, we have to think that last season there were three teams that had their value above five billion dollars: leading the list the New York Knicks (5.8 million), Golden State Warriors (5.6 million) and Los Angeles Lakers (5.5 million). This is because they are the franchises that generate the most revenue with advertising, luxury seats and large television deals according to the assessment made by Forbes in early 2022.

In two of those templates are the two highest paid players, further explaining the reason for the millionaire television deals with the Lakers and Golden State. Lebron James and Stephen Curry are the ones who top the list of players, according to Forbes, with the highest income with a total of 111.2 million and 92.8 million, respectively.

The list of the 5 highest paid players continues with Kevin Durant of Brooklyn Nets, with income of 87.9 million, followed by the figure of Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo with 80.3 million and Russel Westbrook, Lebron's partner in the Lakers, with 74.2 million. It should be noted that these income values are the sum of the salary they receive and the different personal contracts with the brands that accompany their careers.

It is impossible not to be surprised by the money figures that are handled because they really are astronomical, but they are coupled with the power of globalization that the NBA has found from its marketing strategy, and also accompanied by the figures that manage to attract a greater number of sponsors.