NBA All-Star participants to each get their own emoji

As the 6ix kicks off All-Star festivities players participating Sunday will receive something new to this 2016 version – their very own Twitter emoji!

It’s funny living in Toronto I’ve been watching all these NBA based shows with analysts and pundits all calling for frigid temperatures and acting like everyone in Canada live in igloos.  The truth is it’s been an extremely mild winter with only one day of snow that remained on the ground and the temperatures have been so mild I haven’t even turned on my heater yet.

Then I awoke today to find the temperature had dropped significantly and said to myself “great, now all the people arriving from the States for the NBA All-Star festivities are going to believe this false hype that has been dominating their Toronto segments.

Anyway, I digress from the main point of this post. Today it was announced the NBA has designated personal emoji’s for each of the Sunday game participants.  It’s kind of a cool addition highlighting the emergence of social media into the modern sports world and showcases how much an effect this medium has on today’s game.

NBA.com announced each player has their very own emoji which is activated via use of the players first and last names in combination with a hashtag.

For example, if you click on the tweet below you’ll see Houston Rockets James Harden‘s emoji:

All-Star #JamesHarden will be featured in a huge mural at ACC courtesy of adidas this weekend in the 6ix #NBA

— Space City Scoop (@SpaceCity_Scoop) February 12, 2016

Not surprising it’s Harden’s face and his beard which we see.

Over the weekend every time you use the players name and hashtag it will show their emoji and of course if you vote for a player to win MVP. Each of the 24 players have a unique emoji made specifically for them with some expected images like the crown for LeBron James who is frequently referred to as King James.

Other stand outs are:

In the West:

Kobe Bryant – the black mamba obviously

Russell Westbrook – his red fashion glasses

Kawhi Leonard – his massively large claw-like hands

And in the East:

has a Canadian maple leaf in back of his number 10,

Andre Drummond has a drum

All in all there are some interesting emoji’s and it makes for some fun on twitter this weekend.

The other All-Star weekend updates are Emmanuel Mudiay has been selected to participate in place of Houston Rockets’ Patrick Beverley who is unable to defend his title after tweaking his ankle in the last game prior to the break.

Next: All Star Saturday Night Participants

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With the trade deadline around the corner, make sure you visit Space City Scoop on a daily basis for our trade series. Each day, SCS will feature an article on who the Rockets should trade for or what it would take to part ways with the players currently on the roster. Finally, we’ll assess the Rockets and each team in the Association in terms of what their needs are, if they should be buyers or sellers, and also speculate on who would be the ideal trade target.