NBA Players Group Seeks to Own the Brand Game

Amplifying the collective commercial influence of the league's stars

What happens when athletes no longer stand alone, but come together as one? The ability to control their own destinies. That’s the powerful message in a new campaign, “Own the Game,” by the newly-formed Plyrs Untd.

Launched by the National Basketball Players Association, Plyrs Untd operates as a consumer-facing brand that markets and commercializes the collective name, image and likeness rights of the league’s most recognizable athletes.

The launch campaign centers on the short film below, which features 22 NBA stars, including Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard and Jamal Murray. “They always loved what we brought to the game, but they didn’t like where it came from,” a narrator begins. “For too long, everyone profited from player culture—except the players themselves.” 

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“We knew from the start that we wanted this film to be a genuine reflection of our membership and the incredible diversity within it,” says Keisha Wright, SVP of partnerships at the NBPA. 

The spot was shot at a pop-up event facility dubbed Plyrs House, where the athletes “act as the architects of their own activations, including podcasts, events and parties. This setting allowed us to bring a massive group of our players together under one roof, capture their real, raw energy and translate that directly into the film.”

Kendrick Lamar’s creative agency, Project 3, handled the work. 

“If you think of an artist who is completely authentic and engages directly with his fans, no one does it better than Kendrick Lamar,” says David Kelly, NBPA executive director and Plyrs Untd CEO. “He has built and scaled his own independent companies. The synergies were obvious. We are building an authentic brand that represents the players without a middleman. Partnering with someone who has already mastered this exact model in the music and film industries was an absolute no-brainer.” 

The campaign will live across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and X. The :30 version will also run on select partner platforms.

Of the newly-created entity, Wright emphasizes the main goal is creating a B2C platform that returns more value to the players. 

“Historically, athletes have licensed their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) to outside brands without reaping the benefits they truly deserve,” she says. “We are changing that paradigm.”

“We’re launching a brand that empowers players to maximize their NIL and build their own personal empires. We’ll achieve this through original content, direct-to-fan experiences and our new lifestyle image library, which is the most expansive of its kind.”