The hands come together, the powder flies in the air, and its show time. Only this isn’t pre-game where we are used to seeing it, it’s behind a couch, and while its LeBron James doing it, it’s not quite the LeBron we’ve come to expect, it’s a puppet; or a Muppet to be exact.
I’m talking about the new Nike ad campaign for our last two MVP’s, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. A hilarious look at the two faces of the NBA as we’ve never seen them before.
The commercial features an exuberant, chatty LeBron, as he runs around an apartment, clapping his hands together, and sending powder flying everywhere. He practically screeches out his line with youthful energy.
”Here we go,” Puppet LeBron says. ”Game time, Kobe. Game time. I need a basketball in my hands.”
”Chosen one,” James says. ”Ohio, baby. Akron, Ohio, baby.”
Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant, who is represented here as the anti-LeBron, is just chilling; laid back and calm. He struts through the commercial with that slight air of annoyance, that “been there, done that” attitude that marks a seasoned vet.
Finally, laid back Kobe looks up at the over energized LeBron, mounds of chalk littering the room.
”Are we done yet?” Bryant asks
James pauses for a second before jumping up and says: ”I’m just getting started, baby. Yeah. Whoa. Come on. M-V-P. Ha ha ha. Twenty-three. Two three.”
And just as James is just getting started, so it this run of commercials as NIKE has at least 5 more planned for the coming weeks…which is welcome news; because in today’s stale world of forgettable commercials, it’s good to get an honest laugh out of one again.
Oh, and if you’re look for another laugher, check out this Cleveland Cavaliers playoff commercial.
