The NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament began last week and the league and its teams are doing their best to promote it and, effectively, raise awareness that this thing is happening. The league created a very good “Heist” ad campaign for it and even got LL Cool J and The Roots to create a promo song for the tournament, but that hasn’t stopped the teams from getting in on the fun as well.
On Thursday, the Atlanta Hawks debuted a…let’s say “very different” campaign for selling In-Season Tournament tickets, with a Hawks “Only Fans” video featuring a seductive Harry the Hawk.
Only Hawks Fans know where the real action is 👀
🤭: https://t.co/lbtDNZTrQn pic.twitter.com/k8Kx4QFJDZ
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 9, 2023
The response was mixed, but it got lots of attention so for the most part you could say it succeeded in its goal. The only problem was, the Hawks star players were decidedly in the “not a fan” section of the response. Trae Young was quick to note he was not a part of it in anyway, while Dejounte Murray had a much more direct call to action for the Hawks to “Delete This Shit.”
I had no part of this..🤦🏽♂️😂 https://t.co/qgCmPBiIR0
— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) November 9, 2023
MANNNNNNN DELETE THIS SHIT!!!!!!! https://t.co/voIPvogVa4
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) November 9, 2023
I’m not sure that’s the ideal response you’re looking for from your top players as a social team, and I’m sure there’s some very interesting Slack convos and calls being had this afternoon at Hawks HQ. Atlanta is in Mexico City tonight to face the Magic and will make their In-Season Tournament debut on Tuesday in Detroit.
