Go back and watch the Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s 2025 NBA championship celebration. Joseph Owen Jr. is there.<\/p>\n
Find Jalen Williams amid the confetti and champagne, and Owen is never far behind, peering through another set of lenses. Any clip, any angle, any moment: he\u2019s always just off Williams\u2019 shoulder. Even in the Netflix series \u201cStarting Five,\u201d you see him sitting next to Williams in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s home, getting dapped up by the MVP.<\/p>\n
The only place you won\u2019t see Owen is in Williams\u2019 Instagram fit pics or YouTube vlogs, because the 21-year-old videographer is the one capturing it all.<\/p>\n
Many NBA players have live-in chefs, trainers or personal assistants. Williams\u2019 hired housemate is Owen, one of the league\u2019s few live-in videographers. Owen has chronicled Williams\u2019 rise<\/a> from a rookie out of mid-major Santa Clara to an All-NBA wing. Before the accolades, before the ring, before the parade \u2014 Owen was there.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople really need to see this stuff,\u201d Owen said. \u201cEverybody showing the NBA lifestyle, there\u2019s inside info and behind the scenes that people miss out on because nobody is doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Most personal photographers around the league started filming their subjects long before they appeared on NBA broadcasts. In some cases, they have documented players\u2019 careers since high school, and over time, they have become constants in the athletes\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s family for sure,\u201d Williams said in a text exchange. \u201cHe\u2019s seen me at some of the highest points in my career and some of my lowest \u2026 It\u2019s special that he has been there for moments and been able to capture moments I never thought I\u2019d even be in.\u201d<\/p>\n In the attention economy of today\u2019s NBA, players put more effort than ever into curating online brands and personas. LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant founded their own production companies to tell their stories and those of other athletes. Many others around the league hire brand studios to manage their public image. In recent years, a growing number of NBA players have hired photographers to create content around their lives on and off the court in the hopes of endearing themselves to fans and generating sponsorship opportunities.<\/p>\n At least a dozen such personal photographers currently work with NBA players. Among the most successful are Owen, who works with Williams; Merix Alexander, who has been documenting Tyrese Maxey\u2019s career since before the Philadelphia 76ers guard entered the league; Cameron Look, who is known as a trailblazer in the field and works with the families of LeBron James and Shaquille O\u2019Neal; and Nick Ramos, who helped launch Jared McCain to social media fame with a YouTube docuseries while the Thunder guard was in high school.<\/p>\n Owen was a teenager in Sacramento when he started his career as a basketball videographer. His close friend, Isa Silva, was one of the city\u2019s top high school prospects, and Owen began recording him on his phone. The Silva family bought Owen his first camcorder at 15; later, Owen\u2019s mother and uncle got him a professional camera. Soon, his content became local basketball canon.<\/p>\n Silva introduced Owen to Bay Area player development coach Packie Turner, who allowed Owen to shoot his sessions with players like Silva. For months, Owen drove the 200-plus-mile round trip several times a week to film workouts at the coach\u2019s training facility near San Francisco International Airport. At first, Owen worked without pay, posting content from Turner\u2019s gym to build his portfolio. After the images and videos began to gain attention online, Turner began compensating him.<\/p>\n Turner recommended Owen to NBA agent Bill Duffy, who hired him to document his clients\u2019 pre-draft workouts. That\u2019s where Owen, who was 18 at the time, first met Williams. As Williams, Chet Holmgren and other players represented by Duffy prepared to enter the league, Owen embedded with them, documenting their on-court training and behind-the-scenes moments for up to seven hours a day. The proximity helped him form friendships with the players, especially Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were sharing meals because we were both money tight,\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cWe would cook the pre-made meals they gave me for workouts, split them, and just kick it all day \u2026 we liked the same stuff, especially in the creative space.\u201d<\/p>\n That bond carried through the 2022 NBA Draft in Brooklyn, where the Thunder selected Williams with the 12th pick. Owen was there, flying out on one of the plane tickets the NBA provided Williams for personal use.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have a hotel,\u201d Owen said. \u201cI was sleeping on Jalen\u2019s floor two days before the draft and the night of the draft, then left the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n Owen initially moved to Oklahoma City to work for Holmgren. He lived in a small office inside the Thunder big man\u2019s home while filming content to grow Holmgren\u2019s brand. Still, Owen\u2019s relationship with Williams was closer, and he spent much of his spare time at Williams\u2019 place.<\/p>\n The idea of moving in with Williams arose while the two were shopping together. A friend of Holmgren\u2019s had moved to Oklahoma City to stay with him, and Holmgren was running out of space. Owen was already filming for Williams and helping the Thunder wing with errands such as grocery shopping, package returns and airport rides.<\/p>\n Williams felt hesitant at first. \u201cI didn\u2019t want anyone to live with me, but Jojo was cool,\u201d he said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Why not?\u2019 As much as he was at my house, he might as well have lived there. He helped around the crib \u2026 anytime a friend can move in, it makes the experience way more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n He had to advocate for it, but not long after Owen moved in, Williams agreed to put him on an informal salary.\u00a0\u201cHis work deserves to be paid, pretty simple,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI had money for the first time in my life, so why not spread that with your friends?\u201d<\/p>\n Owen\u2019s privileged access creates some of the biggest challenges of his job. He documents Williams\u2019 life beyond the public eye, and Williams trusts him not to reveal details that might benefit Thunder opponents. Keeping quiet about a torn wrist ligament in Williams\u2019 shooting hand during the 2025 playoffs was hard for Owen. After games when Williams played poorly that postseason, Owen couldn\u2019t defend his friend against criticism from NBA analysts and fans on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the injury happened, I had to keep it a secret from everyone,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWhen (Williams) had bad games, I knew something was going on behind the scenes that nobody else knew, aside from family, and I couldn\u2019t tell anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Owen, Merix Alexander<\/a>, 28, entered NBA photography through relationships with skills trainers. After studying business at Louisiana Tech, he moved to Dallas and began shooting pre-draft workouts run by developmental coach Tim Martin. That connection later enabled Alexander to film one of Victor Wembanyama\u2019s early trips to Texas<\/a>. The 7-foot-4 French phenom trained with Martin in September 2022, a full season before the San Antonio Spurs selected Wembanyama first in the 2023 draft.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst time Victor came to Dallas, I was in a gym with him,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cJust being there for Tim, Vic was like, \u2018Oh, OK, here\u2019s some of the first people I\u2019m meeting here.\u2019 Not to say he automatically trusted us. But he\u2019s thinking, \u2018OK, these are my guys.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n On some occasions, Martin, who joined the Spurs\u2019 coaching staff in 2025, would pay Alexander to film workouts and post content; other times, Alexander said, he worked for free to build relationships with players, shooting content to help grow his social media profile.<\/p>\n Maxey, one of the players Martin worked with, would eventually become among Alexander\u2019s top clients. The two met while Maxey was preparing for the 2020 draft and they\u2019ve worked together ever since. Alexander said that throughout their professional relationship, he has filmed Maxey at countless NBA games, workout sessions and even at Paris Fashion Week with nothing more than a handshake deal and an understanding that Maxey would pay him for the work.<\/p>\n \u201cNever a contract, bro,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cJust trust and good faith. Everyone has paid respectfully and on time.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexander said he\u2019s sitting on more than 500 hours of footage of his clients\u2019 lives, with an eye toward cataloging moments for future big projects. \u201cMy mindset is always, \u2018This could be a movie,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s always in my mind, just document it for later. We can make something work for Instagram. But the goal is long term.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Alexander doesn\u2019t typically sign employment contracts with players he works with, he said he has signed non-disclosure agreements with several clients.<\/p>\n Due to his working relationship with Maxey, the Sixers allow Alexander to remain in the team\u2019s locker room and beyond the standard periods of media availability. Alexander records behind-the-scenes moments that league broadcast partners can\u2019t, but he said he\u2019s careful not to abuse his access and knows when to turn the camera off.<\/p>\n You won\u2019t spot defensive matchups scribbled on whiteboards or eavesdrop on head coach Nick Nurse\u2019s game plans revealed in Alexander\u2019s videos.<\/p>\n Discretion is vital in this line of work.<\/p>\n For the NBA\u2019s personal videographers, protecting subjects\u2019 privacy and brand image is paramount, and perhaps no one in the profession knows this better than Cameron Look<\/a> \u2014 because no one documents higher-profile families than the Southern California-based photographer.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to working with both the James and O\u2019Neal families, it\u2019s a privilege to know such special people,\u201d said Look, a go-to photographer for Bronny James and Shareef O\u2019Neal. \u201cEvery member has their own story, their own personality. It\u2019s a privilege to earn their trust and document them.\u201d<\/p>\n Look met O\u2019Neal while photographing a Lil Uzi Vert concert in 2017 and sparked a relationship that led him to chronicle nearly all of O\u2019Neal\u2019s senior high school season. At an O\u2019Neal family gathering shortly after LeBron James joined the Lakers, Look was introduced to James\u2019 son Bronny.<\/p>\n When Bronny enrolled at Sierra Canyon, Look convinced the school\u2019s coaching staff to let him tag along as the team\u2019s full-time photographer. He began traveling with the Blazers, camera ever-present, cultivating a relationship with Bronny that has endured into his professional career.<\/p>\n As Look\u2019s business grew, he began working on ad campaigns for corporate clients, but he also remained present for the James family, continuing to photograph everything from Bronny\u2019s games, Bryce James\u2019 prom send-off and Zhuri James\u2019 birthday celebrations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m always making sure they\u2019re good, physically, emotionally, mentally \u2014 off the court and in life \u2014 before we care about building a following and putting out content,\u201d Look said.<\/p>\n Shortly after he graduated from UC Irvine in 2017, Look took up street photography, shooting candid images of people at concerts and public spaces around Orange County and Los Angeles to market an online business. A lifelong basketball fan, he eventually brought his camera courtside. There was no obvious blueprint for building a social media presence by blending basketball photography and street style, but he developed a passion as he tried to capture the sport\u2019s unpredictable and kinetic action in still images.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m using the walls of the gym to create creative compositions while my subject isn\u2019t being directed by me,\u201d Look said. \u201cHe\u2019s moving and just playing a game. A live-action photographer has no control over what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved getting creative and making people almost confused,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019d see the same game, but what I posted looked completely different than what they saw.\u201d<\/p>\n Look was part of the early wave of videographers who began working with NBA clients in the late 2010s. \u201cI was a pioneer,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to see so many people have opportunities now; it\u2019s a multimillion-dollar business.\u201d<\/p>\n