Each icon corresponds with a team’s logo and can be activated by entering the team’s official hashtag. The latter include an assortment of phrases — from the conventional (#BullsNation for the Chicago Bulls) to the inventive (#OwnThe Future for the Milwaukee Bucks) — that will be familiar to fans, but may leave everyone else puzzled.
#NBA fans…. Use your team's hashtag to unlock their emoji! pic.twitter.com/FTzCjEQjS9
— NBA (@NBA) October 24, 2016
Considering Twitter reportedly charges brands up to a million dollars for a single emoji during major events, it’s rather generously been doling them out to national sports leagues. Last month, the social platform assigned a hashtag-activated emoji to all 32 NFL teams just in time for its Thursday Night Football live-streams.
To ensure basketball fans don’t feel left out, Twitter is set to broadcast two original NBA live shows, beginning on Tuesday with The Starters — described as a live podcast made exclusively for the platform. Another, as yet undisclosed, NBA Twitter show is also reportedly in the works, meaning those emojis will be put to good use outside of live games. The Starters is also available to those without a Twitter account, and can be streamed on the service’s live-streaming apps for Xbox One, Apple TV, and Fire TV.
Twitter previously teamed up with the NBA for a set of emojis dedicated to every All-Star 2016 starter and reserve player. It also tweeted out a series of 360 videos, created in partnership with Samsung, behind-the-scenes from the NBA Finals in June. The 2016-17 NBA season commences on Tuesday.
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