The National Basketball Association (NBA) has appointed K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM as “Friends of the NBA” in Asia as part of a new multi-year collaboration.
The “Friends of the NBA” programme is described by the association as “the league’s celebrity and influencer programme in Asia to engage fans in new and creative ways”, per a press statement released today (April 5).
Billed as a “celebration of the intersection of sports and music”, the programme will see LE SSERAFIM attend NBA games and events, collaborate with the association on “a variety of exclusive content” to be featured on both parties’ social media channels, participate in promotional activities for the league and more.
In the same press release, LE SSERAFIM spoke of the newly established collaboration in a joint statement: “We are so excited to collaborate with the NBA through its ‘Friends of the NBA’ program. We had a great time watching an NBA game in person last year in LA! We look forward to working together with the league to experience so much more with NBA fans around the world.”
Meanwhile, NBA chief marketing officer Tammy Henault also said, “We’re thrilled to team up with breakout K-pop sensation LE SSERAFIM, a young and dynamic group
of NBA fans. Through this collaboration, we look forward to bringing NBA and K-pop fans together in South Korea, across Asia, and around the world and broadening the reach of our game as we celebrate this convergence of music, culture and sports.”
With this, LE SSERAFIM have become the first K-pop group to have an official affiliation with the association. The band follow in the footsteps of HYBE labelmate Suga of BTS, named NBA Ambassador in April 2023, who is the only other K-pop artist to do so.
In November last year, the five-piece made a public visit to the NBA headquarters, the official NBA Store in New York and attended the November 2 LA Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers game.
In other K-pop news, BtoB’s Sungjae revealed in a recent interview that he believes the key to BtoB’s longevity as a group in the K-pop industry is their lack of contact with each other. “You know how you don’t really talk much with your family members. It’s basically like that with them,” he explained.
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