Once upon a time, being an NBA All-Star was a tremendous honor that signified truly mastering one's craft and earning the respect of one's professional peers.
What an antiquated notion. This year, NBA All-Stars get a real honor: their own personalized Twitter emojis.
[seealso url = "http://sale-online.click/2016/01/21/nba-all-star-zaza-pachulia/#AUV0vPU_L8qG"]
For the first time, the NBA and Twitter have partnered to create custom emojis for all 24 All-Stars. The emojis are triggered by tweeting each players' first and last name with a hashtag (#LeBronJames, #KlayThompson, you get the picture).
This isn't just for show, though -- it all has a very specific role in Sunday's All-Star game. We'll get to that in a moment. First, here's a look at all the custom emojis, which are scheduled to be live from Thursday evening through Monday morning.
There are even personalized emojis for members of TNT's beloved broadcast crew (Charles Barkley's is a half-eaten donut, LMAO).
In another league first, voting for the game's Kia NBA All-Star MVP Award will be done through Twitter alone. At the beginning of the game's fourth quarter, a half-hour window will open in which fans on Twitter can support their favorite player by mentioning #KiaAllStarMVP and that player's hashtagged name in the same tweet.
And boom -- your favored player's emoji will pop right up. (The fan vote, however, won't count for everything, which is probably for the best. Media voting will comprise 75 percent of the MVP decision, while fan voting will make up the remaining quarter.)
Don't be surprised by the NBA's digital-heavy All-Star approach, however -- the league has long been on the cutting edge of social media use in the pro sports world.
In 2014, the NBA became the first major American pro sports league to put its social media handle on every game ball. In 2012, it became the first to give out postseason awards based on social media use. Its players are routinely among the most engaging and entertaining athletes online as well.
And this love affair goes both ways -- the Twitter logo itself was named in honor of an NBA legend, after all.