Brunson earned the cover. Give him the cover.

TheGame wrote:

Brunson earned the cover. Give him the cover.

If I’m Wemby, I’m embarrassed to be on the cover.

But he’s a douche, so I’m sure he’s fine with it.

Maybe in the game you can collect power-ups and activate normal mode.

Knixkik wrote:The nba has a great opportunity to continue to push Brunson as the face of the league, while he is an American player in his prime who plays for the biggest market, but also has that underdog appeal to him being a small player with a more relatable game and body type. Very similar to Steph curry. But it does seem like Brunson’s appeal is starting to catch up, it just took winning first.

The playoffs propelled him to be one of the faces.
We about 5 weeks from the end of that seriess and his epic closeout game.
I suspect he'll be getting some love the next year or so going forward.
Espy's, National talk shows, etc. He has represented his himself, the league, the team, and the family very well publically!
Wemby despite his "Failure" I'd guess is the odds on favorite to win MVP. I'd guess this is why they put hiim on the cover.
Y2k is not the nba office or Adam Silver. Its a stand alone company that sells games on a global scale.

They HAVE to be tied together. Makes sense long term as a business to promote Wemby now.

nyvector16 wrote:It is naive to believe the NBA does not collude with media companies on what ends up on Billboards, magazines, game covers, etc...

The NBA is pushing hard for the Wemby "Face of the league" narrative. These last playoffs drove a dagger through the image of their last golden boy SGA where he was basically mocked relentlessly online for his consistent flopping. The problem the NBA has is Wemby revealed himself to be an arrogant and dirty player which goes against the grain of the image they are trying to foster. NBA also severely misunderstands the Knicks fanbase is so large, it dwarfs every other team. If they stood behind their actual champions, they would stand to profit much more than they already have.

Brunson and team will make them all look foolish again when they repeat next year!! Go Knicks!!!

To some extent I can only imagine they do. Its logical to have a coehesive marketing approach.
Lets also give some credit that NBA and its marketing sciencce understands the Knicks base and its effect.
Im trying to not think as a knick fans but look at the global appeal. Wemby and his potential could be a global phenomenon. Im not sure his "true Colors" came out and perhaps that bit of nastyness is what is needed for him to succeed. It sure looked bad and I shared the outrage he got away with it.
In the end, Knicks in 5! Despite a 4-1 series the ratings were thru the roof. I don't live in NY but I do see they are being paraded around and getting lots of love on TV!

I envision Spurs if Wemby is healthy should break thru and win a chip which will solidify his potential. Just the name "Wemby" is almost "cute" and its part of the reason kids gravitate. He is the fresh face and looks more approachable then say Embiid is/was.

If things were fair from a fan persepctive Clyde should be the Logo! Jerry west was a superstar but just has one ring. Jerry West did great things but the Celtics year after year ****ed him up. Then Clyde comes along and upstaged him. Dumb Trivia: One player won finals MVP in 1969 on the losing team. Yes, Jerry West! That really messed him up. Media was not kind to West. League (Not Adam Silver, LOL!) made him the logo. Never official but we all saw it. Bill Russell won 11 rings in that era, but Jerry was the Logo.

I digress..........

Did the knicks base suprise the league? I don't know. They been filling up arenas and I gather ratings on national games have demonstrated appeal for a while now. Knicks did not win 60 games and thus caught the world by suprise with this run. Brunson won a lot of fans I guess and it will show at some point. Again, its just a few weeks ago this all happend! I get why they choose "Wemby" even if it was not "fair". I looked up past covers and they don't seem to do repeats. Perhaps why SGA was not on it. JOkic was 2nd in MVP voting and is a global star, but "Wemby" is the forward choice I suppose.
I suspect "Wemby" will have fewer on court issues if he wants to protect his image.

martin wrote:Wonder how much of a push to make Wemby a face of the NBA is a step towards European expansion. That's where the money is really at for the league. Team expansion revenue fees are like $200M per team without doing anything. And then the TV rights etc.

They HAVE to be tied together. Makes sense long term as a business to promote Wemby now.

LeBron and Douchingis after they win a championship together they should make an expansion team in England call it the London Wankers