NBA -Semis could increase the delayed social media presence of the stars

The finalists of the NBA conference 2025 – The Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers – are an atypical group of competitors. Only one (the thunder) is a No. 1 or No. 2, and nobody has won an NBA championship since the 1970s.
You also have stars that are still building in the process of building your profile. None of the 25 most well-kept active NBA players on Instagram is still in a team in the post-season. Kyrie Irving (No. 4), Luka Dončić (No. 11) and Jayson Tatum (No. 19) all advanced this depth last season, and later in the 2010s mega superstars such as LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant showed.

This year the most followed in the final Four is the Timberwolves anthony Edwards, whose 4.8 million followers in the NBA take the 27th place. Right behind him are the Karl Anthony cities of the Knicks (4.3 million) and the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from Thunder (4.1 million), but nobody else in the top 50 of the league will take up the place for the rest of this season. It is also not because of an attempt that Gilgeous-Alexander carefully curated a feed to meet his personality.
Alex Caruso, who started three games for Oklahoma City this year, has the fourth most frequent supporters among the players in the conference semi-final (1.3 million). The Minnesota rookie Rob Dillingham, who has never played in the playoffs for a minute, has the sixth.

However, the final of the conference will have a major impact on the social media brands of the players. In the 24 hours before his game 1 against the Timberwolves, Gilgeous-Alexander received more than 20,000 supporters, the highest brand in the NBA. Eight of the nine best 24-hour winners are still active in the post-season, with the exception that Tatum, which was recently removed, was eliminated.

The stars that still live in the playoffs are far from no-name, even if they are looking for a wider range. Social media only follows an indicator of marketability.

Under the best-selling jerseys of the NBA this season, Jalen Brunson took number 5, Edwards took number 7 and Gilgeous-Aalexander in 9th place. Brunson also organizes a podcast with its kink teammates named the the the the the the the Show roommates This offers more than 200,000 own Instagram followers.

In 2024, Edwards and Gilgeous-Alexander earned $ 20 million or $ 18 million Sports List for the highest paid athletes.

The lack of Instagram stars that remain in the playoffs is primarily proof of the youth of the teams who won in the early rounds. The Pacers Star Point Guard Tyrese Haliburton is only 25 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander is 26 years old, Edwards is 23 years old and both Knick's all-stars (cities and Brunson) are still in the 20s.

Franchise companies, which went two or three known, established players such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, were less successful in this post-season, with thin benches and injuries to be costly.