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Le Sserafim, the renowned K-pop band, has collaborated with the NBA for years, intending to expand the basketball fandom towards Asia. The influencer and celebrity collaboration program of the NBA has chosen Source Music Co., which is a sub-label of HYBE from Korea, and announced the five girls K-pop band Le Sserafim as the 'Friends of the NBA.'
With this announcement, Le Sserafim became the first K-pop group to collaborate with the NBA. Previously, Suga from BTS was the only collaborator of the league from the K-pop industry.
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After the collaboration, the members of Le Sserafim noted,
"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."
Tammy Henault, the NBA Chief Marketing Officer shared in the press release,
"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."
Apart from the press release, the NBA has shared the collaborative posts with the Le Sserafim, which took no time to garner fans' appreciation. A fan named @Secret_ Szuieerin remarked,
In the campaign, the five members of the K-pop band opened the welcome box from the NBA and rejoiced to be part of the league. The members also assured that they would witness more games in the future. Fans responded to collaboration joyfully:
However, some NBA fans criticized the K-pop involvement, remarking that it was redundant. Some have mocked the announcement as well:
Evaluating most of the comments, it can be said that the majority of people love the K-pop addition to the NBA. Fans have mentioned the band's latest music Easy and compared it with the game while some have said that the band brought him to the NBA.
Le Sserafim becomes the first K-pop band to collaborate with the NBA
As a part of this campaign, the group members got a welcome box and started unboxing it, where they found the beanies, jerseys, caps, etc.
Huh, Yunjin draped the varsity jacket with the white shorts, while Hong Eunchae embraced loose-fit pants and an oversized jacket. Kazua brought feminity with a long skirt and Chaewon kept her styling in cargo pants and oversized pullovers. Sakura wore a white crop top and layered it with a jacket.
Read more: “I felt like I was watching a movie”: Fans swoon over Kylian Mbappe’s appearance in Oakley campaign
'Friends of NBA' program was launched in 2022, an initiative to showcase Asia-Pacific influencers and celebrities who take part in NBA events, and games to promote basketball fanatics.
Read more: "He looks like a prince": Fans Praise Choi Min-ho's Look at COS Spring/Summer 2024 Event
