NBC Sports will turn Jalen Brunson, Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Stephen Curry and LeBron James into comic book superheroes ahead of the 2026-2027 NBA season, its second year broadcasting the league.

The limited campaign celebrates the start of the regular season on NBC Sports and Peacock on Tuesday, Oct. 20. That night carries the first-ever American Express NBA Tip-Off triple-header: the Boston Celtics against the Detroit Pistons at 3 p.m. ET, the Philadelphia 76ers against the defending champion New York Knicks at 7 p.m. ET, and the Oklahoma City Thunder against the San Antonio Spurs at 9:30 p.m. ET.

"The start of the NBA season is one of the most exciting moments on the sports calendar, and this campaign gives us a unique way to celebrate it with fans of all 30 teams," said Lyndsay Signor, senior vice president of sports marketing at Universal Television Entertainment Group.

Speaking to ADWEEK, Signor said NBC started marketing the new season immediately after the 2025-26 NBA Finals. During ideation, the concept of NBA stars as superheroes kept coming up. The comic book treatment gave the team a springboard to spotlight the triple-header, individual teams across the league and its broadcasting talent, including Mike Tirico, who narrates the comic, titled Tip Off.

The characters come from veteran industry artists. Ryan Benjamin's credits include Batman, X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman and Star Wars across Marvel, DC and WildStorm. Ryan Odagawa, whose work spans Marvel, WildStorm and Blizzard, illustrated the first appearances of F.R.I.D.A.Y. and Temugin in Invincible Iron Man at Marvel.

Signor said the team produced a unique cover for each of the league's 30 franchises. "With each cover for each of the 30 teams, we wanted the storytelling to feel authentic to their stories, and their star players on each team," she said. She added the covers should resonate with existing fan bases and pull in non-NBA fans, acting like a funnel that draws them into the league and gives them a sense of what makes each team special.

The campaign makes its public debut at ComplexCon in Los Angeles on Oct. 3-4 with an immersive NBC Sports Tip-Off Comic Newsstand, inspired by classic city newsstands. Fans there get the first complimentary copies of the comic plus other on-site activations.

Starting Oct. 8, branded "newsies" will hand out limited promotional comics at New York City Comic Con. A 10-foot-tall comic-book installation will appear at high-profile Manhattan locations before gathering at Rockefeller Center on NBA Jersey Day, Oct. 19, alongside the Comic Newsstand ahead of the Oct. 20 tip-off.

The activation will integrate with NBC News' morning show Today when it lands at Rockefeller Center, and NBC Sports' NBA studio show will broadcast from the 30 Rock plaza before the first game.

Reflecting on the network's inaugural NBA season, Signor said the marketing team leaned into its strengths by putting fans at the center of everything, drawing insights from social platforms and Peacock. Cross-portfolio partnerships included Bravo, which placed Real Housewives casts at NBA games, and Universal Pictures, with content built around Minions and the NBA Playoffs.

"Anything that we can do that continues to work for the fans, we will do for this season and beyond," Signor said.