The G.O.A.T. Black Cat Edition Resin Figure by Tracy Tubera

The NBA’s 2020 All Star Game took place in Chicago last night, and to commemorate the big game Tracy Tubera released the second colorway of his epic Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls inspired The G.O.A.T. resin figure! Check out The G.O.A.T. Black Cat Edition Resin Figure, which is an all black painted colorway with a glossy finish. Based on Tracy’s popular print, THE G.O.A.T., this awesome all black figure stands 10” tall, was hand crafted, hand assembled and hand painted by MANA Studios, and is limited to just 23 pieces. Collectors can pre-order this full resin art sculpture now at Tracy Tubera’s online store for $225.

NBA 2020 All Star Game Screen Print by James Flames x All Star Press Chicago x Chicago Bulls

All Star Press Chicago has teamed up with the Chicago Bulls and the NBA to release this beautiful NBA 2020 All Star Game poster by artist James Flames! As All Star Press Chicago explained, “This is truly one of the most exciting collaborations we’ve had to date. Having known James for the past 10 years it’s an honor to be printing his work for the first time.”

NBA 2020 All Star Game by James Flames is an 18”x24” hand numbered 5 color screen print. The Regular Edition ($35) is limited to 100 pieces on 100 lb. cougar white cover stock paper, while the Foil Variant is limited to just 10 pieces and comes printed on 140 lb. silver foil cover paper. While the All Star Game posters are sold out at the All Star Press Chicago online store, there is also an art print edition of both prints. The Regular Art Print Edition is limited to 50 pieces and retails for $40, while the Foil Variant Art Print Edition is limited to 10 pieces and retails for $60.

Johnny Cupcakes x NBA 2013 Big Kid T-Shirts

Back in 2010 Johnny Cupcakes released a killer series of NBA inspired Big Kid t-shirts just in time for the NBA All-Star Game (see the designs here). Each shirt featured JC’s mascot re-imagined as an NBA Legend (Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird). Flash forward three years and Johnny’s done it again! The weekend after the 2013 NBA All-Star Game Johnny Cupcakes has released an all new series of NBA inspired Big Kid tees!

This time around Big Kid has been reimagined as two current players and one Basketball Hall of Famer. Big Kid as the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin was released as a JCLA Bakery exclusive, Big Kid as the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce was released as a JC Boston Bakery exclusive, and Big Kid as the Chicago Bulls Dennis Rodman was released as an online exclusive. Each t- design was also sold as exclusive buttons at each Johnny Cupcakes retail location. Is this a killer release or what!?!?

Each Johnny Cupcakes x NBA 2013 Big Kid t-shirt retailed for $39.99. The shirts were available in both men's and women’s styles, sizes S-3XL. The Bulls online exclusive is now sold out, but I’ve heard the LA and Boston exclusives may still be available in select sizes. All three NBA Big Kid buttons are still available and can be purchased for just $0.99!

Dwyane Wade x Li-Ning “Way of Wade” NBA All-Star Weekend 2013 Screen Prints by Jermaine Rogers

This past weekend was the 2013 NBA All-Star Game here in Houston. While The Blot wasn’t able to attend the game, I did try to sneak my way into as many All-Star Weekend events as my pregnant wife would allow. The NBA has always been my favorite professional sports league, and I love all the hoopla surrounding its signature event. It’s really amazing how much bigger the All-Star Weekend has become since it was last here in Houston 7 years ago. Now there are amazing signings, parties and sneaker events all over the city where you can rub shoulders with your favorite basketball players, musicians and artists.

Once such event was Li-Ning’s “Way of Wade” pop-up shop on Saturday where the Chinese sneaker company unveiled their new line of Dwyane Wade clothing and apparel, including some really killer limited edition All-Star colorways of Dwyane’s new sneakers “Sting Wades”.  Dwyane even came by for an appearance and to officially launch his new sneakers! While the $250 basketball shoes didn’t blow me away, I was super excited to check out the two amazing Jermaine Rogers screen prints commissioned by Wade and Li-Ning specially for the pop-up shop and Wade’s private “Way of Wade” party the night before.

The open edition black Dwyane Wade x Li-Ning "Preparation/Domination" by Jermaine was made specifically for Wade's private "Way of Wade" party Friday night, and one was given to every person in attendance. The figure of Wade “in action” in his silhouette is actually printed in glow in the dark ink and really stands out on this striking image. I love Jermaine's use of color in this piece! The Blot’s not exactly sure of the print's dimensions, but it looked like a 12”x24” print and retailed for $30.

The second print is entitled “Make Your Own Way” and all prints were printed on foil, a signature of Jermaine’s many releases, exclusively for Li-Ning's All-Star Weekend pop-up shop. This print is slightly larger than the "Preparation/Domination" print (maybe 18”x24”), but this release was limited to just 100 pieces and came signed and numbered by Jermaine! What really blew me away is that Dwyane specifically requested this pretty large s/n foil print be priced reasonably for his fans, so it retailed for just $30!!! Who needs sneakers when you can get this amazing piece of art by a true rock poster legend for just $30!?! Jermaine also did an incredible recreation of his foil print as a 60”x40” mixed media piece on wood panel, which hung prominently at the Li-Ning pop-up shop.

The Blot of course snagged the signed and numbered Dwyane Wade x Li-Ning “Make Your Own Way” foil print by Jermaine Rogers, and when I left the gallery on Saturday there were a small amount of both prints still available. No clue if either sold out at the event after I left, but if you want to pick either of these basketball prints by Jermaine, I suggest heading over to his website and signing up for his mailing list.  That's the best way to stay on top of all of his future releases.

The Marvel x NBA Clothing Collection

Now this is the kind of team-up The Blot can really get behind! Marvel Comics and the National Basketball Association are collaborating on an exclusive collection of co-branded merchandise featuring NBA team logos alongside some of the Marvel Universe’s most popular super heroes. This new clothing line will include apparel from C-Life and headwear from New Era.

After launching at the 2011 NBA All Star Game on February 20th, the Marvel x NBA Collection can now be found in arenas and sporting goods stores across North America! The Blot hasn’t seen any of these new t-shirts or hats in person yet, but I’ll definitely look for them the next time I’m at the Toyota Center here in Houston to see the Rockets play. As a Lakers fan, I’m hoping they release some really cool team exclusive hats and apparel. But from the pictures seen here, it looks like a lot of the designs are reused and are just altered to reflect the local team’s colors and logo.

Marvel x NBA T-shirts retail for $24 ($20 for youth sizes), while Marvel x NBA New Era fitted hats retail for $35. See more designs at the NBA online store here.

Johnny Cupcakes x NBA The Dream Team T-Shirts

The Blot is a huge fan of the NBA, so these Johnny Cupcakes Dream Team t-shirts, an unofficial tie-in with the Association, automatically becomes one of The Blot’s favorite JC releases. Released just in time for this past weekend’s NBA All-Star Game, the first three t-shirts features the Johnny Cupcakes mascot Big Kid re-imagined as three of the greatest NBA players of all time: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.




The second batch of Johnny Cupcakes x NBA Dream Team t-shirts are tributes to two of the league’s two most decorated franchises, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. These are also happened to be the only two cities that have Johnny Cupcakes retail locations. As a Lakers fan I especially like JC’s Dunkin’ Desserts Until It Hurts LA tee, and will probably have to order one when it goes on sale sometime this week.



The Johnny Cupcakes Dream Team t-shirts will all be available for purchase at the Johnny Cupcakes online store early this week; however most of these should be available in stores right now. The Big Kid Jordan is an online exclusive, while the two Celtics themed shirts will be available at Johnny Cupcakes Boston and the two Lakers themed shirts will be available at Johnny Cupcakes Los Angeles.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant Win The 2009 NBA All Star Game MVP Award

Never in a million years did The Blot expect the 2009 NBA All Star Game to end the way it did last night. I was particularly excited for this year’s exhibition game because it would be the first time Shaq and Kobe have played together on the same team since O’Neal’s departure from the LA Lakers almost five years ago.


As many of you know Shaq is my all time favorite player and the Lakers are my all time favorite team, so it was pretty awesome for The Blot to watch Shaq and Kobe playing happily together under the tutelage of Lakers head coach Phil Jackson again, if only for one night. I honestly didn’t expect Shaq to play significant minutes in what could be his final All Star Game appearance, but when he came out during player introductions and did that sick dance with The Jabbawockeez, a hip-hop dance group, I knew he had one last great performance in him. And boy did he!


After the West went down 20-10 early in the game, Shaq and Kobe helped spark their team to a 19-0 run, which unknowingly put the West up for the remainder of the night. O’Neal finished the game with more points (17) than minutes played (11) and put on an amazing show that was capped with a pass between Dwight Howards legs to Chris Paul, who then passed the ball back to a cutting Shaq who finished the play with an emphatic dunk. Shaq’s output was also a new All Star Game record for most points scored in under 15 minutes of play. Kobe on the other hand finished with a game high 27 points to lead the Western Conference All Stars in a commanding victory over the Eastern Conference 146-119.

What’s really amazing about last night was how friendly Kobe and Shaq were to each other before and during the game. Shaq even went so far as to call Bryant the hands down best player in the league. Shaq seems to be making a concerted effort to finally let go of the animosity between he and Bryant, and is making some really crazy overtones about a possible return to the Lakers to finish out his career once his contract with the Phoenix Suns expires. This is music to The Blot’s ears, but whether or not Lakers owner Jerry Buss or Bryant would ever let this happen is another question entirely.


As co-MVPs, Kobe and Shaq have now each won the award three times. This ties them with Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson for the second most All Star MVP Awards received behind Bob Pettit’s four.

Dwight Howard wins the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Dwight “Superman” Howard, the first overall pick 0f the 2004 NBA draft, won the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Saturday night. The third year pro and two-time NBA All-Star from the Orlando Magic found a new nickname for himself with his second dunk of the contest. After taking off his Magic jersey to reveal a Superman shirt and donning a red cape, Howard took off and made one of the sickest dunks I’ve ever seen. While I’m not sure if the move really counted as a dunk since he actually threw the ball through the hoop after getting way too high in the air, nevertheless the dunk was awarded the perfect score of 50 by the panel of NBA all time greats.


This was after his first dunk which consisted of bouncing the ball off the back of the backboard and dunking the ball under the backboard while his head was still behind the hoop. That dunk also scored a perfect 50 catapulting into the Slam Dunk Contest finals. For his first dunk of the final round Howard completed a third straight unbelievable dunk by throwing himself an alley oop, then after jumping into the air he slapped it off the backboard with his left hand and in the same motion caught it with his right hand for the monster throw down. It was a truly ridiculous dunk that could only be appreciated in slow-motion replay.


To end the night Howard grabbed a ball mid-flight, which had been resting on the backboard from a mini-hoop stuck on the regulation hoop, and windmill dunking it to cap off one of the most amazing slam dunk competitions in recent history. Howard brought fun and imagination back to an event that truly needed a pick-me-up and definitely earned his new nickname of Superman.

Chris Bosh Wants Your Vote!

The Blot saw this on Yahoo Sports today and thought it was too funny not to share. It’s a YouTube video created by Toronto Raptors All-Star forward Chris Bosh stumping for your vote for this year’s NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans. The guy wants to be a starter on this year’s East All-Star squad and the only way to do so is by winning the fan vote at your position.

The problem is Bosh is going up against two huge superstars at his position, Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Honestly, there’s no way Bosh beats the two of them out considering that a) they’re two of the biggest stars in the NBA and b) they are already the leading vote getters in the Eastern Conference. (link) But, after seeing this video he’ll definitely be getting my vote. It took a lot of creativity and guts to put this together, and with Bosh averaging 20 points and 9 rebounds a game this year he is at least a lock to make his third All-Star team.

Go here to cast your vote for Chris Bosh to start in this year’s NBA All-Star Game.