K-pop boost and on-court growth: How did Andrew Wiggins slip into an All-Star starting spot? - The Athletic

Included as a small part of the Warriors’ vast business outreach the past year, they entered into a partnership with BamBam, a Thai singer based in South Korea who is a megastar within the K-pop world and also happens to be a fan of Steph Curry and, by basketball relation, the Warriors.

It’s one of several associations they’ve cultivated with influencers. BamBam is expected to perform at Chase Center in the future. The two big brands have traded social media favors. It’s nothing that the average NBA follower would care much about. But this specific partnership did budge its way loudly into the basketball consciousness Thursday night, lighting a fuse that paved the way for Andrew Wiggins’ selection as an All-Star starter.

Go back to Jan. 7. The Warriors’ social media team strategically selected that day for BamBam’s Wiggins-hashtagged All-Star post. It was a “2-for-1” sale. Votes counted as double. BamBam’s message, embedded below and sent to his 9.6 million followers, erupted in the active K-pop world, becoming Thailand’s No. 1 trending topic and generating enough buzz to boost Wiggins across the finish line as the third-leading vote-getter in the West frontcourt.

Back in 2016, fans nearly voted Zaza Pachulia in as an All-Star starter, inspiring the league to alter its rules. They stripped away full control from the public and split the weighted All-Star voting formula to 50 percent fans, 25 percent player voting and 25 percent media voting, believing it’d protect against the selection of an unqualified role player as a starter.

It does that.

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K-pop boost and on-court growth: How did Andrew Wiggins slip into an All-Star starting spot? - The Athletic
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