The 7 funniest NBA teams on Instagram

The NBA is one of the greatest expressions of world basketball and it is at every level. From what you see on the pitch to what surrounds the spectacle of a game, passing through one of the concepts that is often and willingly combined with stars and stripes basketball: entertainment. The NBA entertainment - which is legally one of the Lega's operational arms - is a term that at times appears to be evasive, because one does not have readiness for all the areas it contains. One of these areas is obviously communication in the broad sense.

In 2014, when the NBA became the first professional league to enclose the 30 sites of the same franchises under the single roof of NBA.com, 60% of the visits on the new responsive websites already came from mobile, testifying to the fact that smartphones and tablets were ready to replace the use of content. The use changes, the platforms change and consequently the contents.

Ben Golliver, one of Sport Illustrated's most respected authors, analyzed the perfect marriage between the NBA and Instagram. In an article that has become a kind of manual to understand the communication dynamics behind NBA entertainment, we find a key event for this change: the London 2012 Olympic Games. According to this scrupulous analysis, the Olympics marked the moment when Twitter - one of the most used tools in the everyday life of American sports - it has proved its saturation. A dozen months later the rise of the NBA would begin on what is now one of the most used social platforms. "NBA Entertainment's approach for over 30 years has been access-driven, which is to bring our fans behind the scenes," said Bob Carney, NBA vice president of social and digital content. “With social media, the mission has not changed. Change the speed and mechanism of content delivery".

Each year the Carney department dictates general guidelines and behaviors that franchises must follow from a content point of view. Once this "code of ethics" to be followed is delivered, the internal structures of the companies are free to move. The strategies are defined internally and often follow the flow of the long regular season. In short, the type of team, the blazon, the story behind it, the results of the field are all elements that characterize the line that you choose to have on Instagram. The Lakers and the Celtics, the two most decorated teams, have always opted for stylistic elegance, while new projects travel different paths. For example, there are those who have chosen one of the main ways to create engagement: memes. The purposes of "distracting" the user from the disastrous seasonal results and at the same time exasperating a particular moment works. What are the best Instagram accounts among the 30 NBA franchises?

7. PHOENIX SUNS

In seventh place are the Phoenix Suns of the Devin Booker phenomenon. Account that all in all leans for "clean" and standard strategy, without resorting excessively to the use of fun content. Having the League's 21st record forces the Suns Social Team to live in this damned limbo between wanting to be "serious" and being more "funny" on an account that has 1.4 million followers. The content published after the victory against the Portland Trailblazers speaks volumes about the brilliant minds of Allison Harrisis, Cody Cunningham and Tana Hughes, the three social media managers of Phoenix.
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There is no shortage of those who will also be great classics in this ranking, such as the Spongebob memes and the irreverence of @dudewithsign. Content that, despite being the same in certain cases, can be declined according to the need. Seth Phillips' signs, for all @dudewithsign, in this case are used to push the nomination of Devin Booker to the Chicago All Star Game.

6. CHARLOTTE HORNETS

It's hard to be nice or use memes when the Meme - capital M - you have it at home. The franchise owned by Michael Jeffrey Jordan is just above that of Arizona for the ability to decline the Hornets' actions in content that spans the entire North Carolina community. The new emoji then also deserves to rank alone. A job, that of Diana Biffl, Matt Rochinski, Wesley Robinson and Jesse Diebolt is in full development and the "funny" strategies involve above all the rookies, the youngest of the team, to take hold of the new generations.
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Here too we have a catchphrase within funny communication, that is flex tape, a cult object in the United States. This ultra-resistant scotch really repairs everything and the spot has become one of the most used sports memes on the web.

5. HOUSTON ROCKETS

In fifth place is the most extreme team in the league. Extreme, however, not on social media after a rather turbulent past. The social reputation of the Rockets has been recovered since 2015 today, the year in which the management decided to put digital communications manager Chad Shanks at the door. The reason for the layoff was his too fan-like and managerless behavior. The final sting came on April 28, when the Rockets knocked out the Mavericks from the playoffs and posted a tweet that read “Shhhhh. Just close your eyes. It will all be over soon” with the emoji of the gun pointed at the horse (symbol of the Mavs).
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For the first time ever, we find a superhero in meme format, with Thanos' powers paired with James Harden's scoring powers. The Harden-Westbrook combination often returns, with the two replacing Drake and Future on the cover of "Life is Good". Spongebob, flex tape and Baby Yoda do the rest. A very balanced feed, although the term is strange if it refers to a project involving Mike D'Antoni.

4. MIAMI HEAT

Just off the podium is the franchise of genius Pat Riley. Talking about one of the three accounts that experienced the LeBron effect with everything that follows (follow and defollow based on his choices) is never easy, yet the Heat Social Team has found the square thanks to a project that never went under par. Almost all the funny posts belong to the macro-theme of the final results, all however with a different nuance.
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Each post for a win is related in some way to the losers: from Woody of Toy story for the San Antonio Spurs to the "Wizards" present in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote", passing through an easy connection between the Raptors and Drake. The high notes arrive on the Thug Life of the now ex Justin Winslow, on Chris Bosh in Social Media Manager version and The Flying Nunn, taken directly from the American sit-com "The Flying Nun". For the first time in this special ranking we find an NBA version of "Rise-and-Shine", one of the most viral hits of Tik Tok.

3. ATLANTA HAWKS

Nic Bell, Annie Finberg, Zach Fletcher and James Dawkins are just 4 of the main minds that are part of the communication and social media department of the Atlanta Hawks. The bronze medal goes to the Georgia team, once again not up to par with the situation in most NBA games. A lot of quality on the pitch - not often translated into results - and a rebuilding project that is waiting for confirmation from the parquet. Confirmations that come instead from social networks, where the Hawks are strong in terms of funny content.
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Beyond the classics we have met so far, we have the introduction of fake Instagram filters built ad hoc, as in the case of choosing the winning team. The "Couldn't refresh feed" after 111-158 against the Rockets - tenth defeat in a row before the goal against Golden State - alone holds third place. Do not underestimate the content to celebrate the victory against the Nuggets: Denver plays at Pepsi Center, while Atlanta is the place of origin of Coca Cola. This only for refined palates. The top man of all contents remains Trae Young, the only All-Star of the team, celebrated in every salsa.

2. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

In second place are the Memphis Grizzlies, the revelation team considering both the average age of the players and the progress made in terms of the growth process. The young age in the field seems to be embodied also by a Social Team that manages to be brilliant on the best occasions. The Memphis Grizzlies deserve first place for how they decide to celebrate a win on Instagram.
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Worthy of note, as mentioned, are above all the contents that are posted when the Tennessee team takes home the result. Brilliant is the transformation of Lil Baby into Ja Morant, taking up the cover of his latest album "My turn". Out of category, however, the posts on country music representing Texas of the San Antonio Spurs and on the winning streak of the Grizzlies against the unfortunate Cleveland Cavaliers.

1. SACRAMENTO KINGS

In the first place there can be only the Sacramento Kings, probably for the opposite reason compared to the second placed ones: nobody takes the defeats as the social media manager of Sactown! In the funny content of the Kings there is really everything: irreverence, self-criticism, awareness, madness. Making defeat a moment that provokes hilarity and laughter is not a simple task. Having skills in terms of community management - especially of a community that would like to scream to the world "why can't we ever build a competitive team?!" - it is essential to handle certain situations.
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The exasperation on some occasions of the Sacramento Kings is disarming, just as the ability to always translate an extreme situation - of joy for a victory or of despair for a defeat - into a unique content is disarming. The "protest that" published after Bjelica's buzzer beater against the Rockets is something that goes beyond simple funny content, it is something that shows all the healthy madness of Jason Wise, SMM of the Kings.