Perhaps the obvious choice would have been to portray Kuzma in Comic oversized pink sweater He donned a game in November 2021, which drew incredible reactions from LeBron James and others around the NBA, but there was some concern among the Wizards marketing team that the sweater moment had already passed and they would be collecting mothballs by 2023.
“We felt like the pink jacket was part of last season, and we wanted to move on, so we picked a few more of his outfits and had fake heads out of those,” Rebecca Wynne, vice president of marketing for Monumental Sports and Entertainment, said this week. “[Kuzma’s] The immediate response was, “No, I want to wear the pink jacket.”
So Wayne and her team changed course. They made the pink jacket, and with Kuzma’s input, they did it well.
The first 10,000 fans of Friday’s game against the New York Knicks will receive Kuzma’s pink bobblehead jacket, which perfectly embodies the look that prompted Kuzma’s former Los Angeles Lakers teammate James to comment on Instagram: “No no f— – The way you wore that!!! I don’t hit the like button because that’s an outrageous cuz!
“I think only the fashion scene in Los Angeles spoke to me,” Kuzma said last year On how he got into fashion while spending the first four seasons of his NBA career with the Lakers. I was like: ‘Yeah, that’s what I love. I enjoy getting dressed. I enjoy looking at fabrics, touching different fabrics, and knowing the difference between them. “
Some of the other outfits considered for Kuzma’s bobble head included a short-sleeved T-shirt and a low-cut undershirt that would have shown off some of his many tattoos. They’re gorgeous designs — and Kuzma’s classics — but they’re almost as memorable as the pink blazer, which GQ’s Ellen Carter had. named “A Meta-Commentary on the Evolution of the NBA’s Pre-Game Appearance.”
The Wizards worked with merchandise agency BDA to design and produce the bobbleheads, which, for a creative and unusual touch, feature swingable arms to mimic the shaking of a sweater’s sleeve. Kuzma, who averages a career-high 21.3 points per game and is an A.J Candidate to be dealt with by the February 9 trade deadline, from providing feedback throughout the process, from rendering to drawing. For example, he requested that his circular head include the mole on his lower left cheek. During the shaping phase, he insisted that his white hat and pink jacket be woven rather than soft.
“There are different personalities,” Wayne said. “Some players are very invested in the process and some are not. Kuzma was just that, and that was really helpful.”
Wayne noted that Wizards big man Christaps Porzingis, who took home the Bobblehead Trophy in March, was particular about the color and length of his beard in Nutcracker The team includes holiday ticket packages. Bradley Bell tends to take a hands-off approach when it comes to his games, though he did like the Black Panther design the team introduced last season.
Bobbleheads take three to six months to produce. Since the wizards got an early start on Kuzma’s Bobblehead game, they were able to work with the BDA to incorporate Kuzma’s suggestions after the final offer was approved in June. Wayne Kuzma said who Dig the game-winning three-pointer On Wednesday’s win over the Chicago Bulls, happy with the final product and his attention to detail.
“Everything from his mid-step, to the way the jacket is kind of pleated in the front, the chain he’s wearing, we really wanted to capture that moment of arrival,” Wen said. While sometimes we may just look at pictures or videos to get a general concept [for a bobblehead]This was definitely a moment in time.”