Just hours after announcing his retirement from the NBA, Chris Paul spent All-Star Weekend stepping into a different role: AT&T brand ambassador.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The newly retired point guard partnered with the telecom firm on a series of community-focused activations tied to the brand\u2019s broader All-Star presence, which coincided with the 150th anniversary of the first phone call. As part of the effort, Paul spoke with HBCU athletes and participated in a live-streamed shoot-around with fans.<\/p>\n
For Paul, the partnership was more than another brand appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAT&T has been a part of my life and my family, but I never thought about doing something with them,\u201d Paul said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think about partnerships that are a part of your story. AT&T played a pivotal role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both his grandmother and father worked for the company\u2014his grandmother for 30 years and his father for a decade\u2014making the collaboration feel personal, according to Paul. During a recent campaign shoot, \u201cThe Point God\u201d even asked to keep a branded basketball so he could give it to his grandmother.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was trying to take it,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
Bringing connection to the community<\/p>\n
AT&T used All-Star Weekend to showcase how it\u2019s positioning basketball as a cultural connector, building experiences designed to bring fans closer to the game and to each other.<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s schedule reflected that approach.<\/p>\n
At Venice Beach, he joined Fortnite streamer Clix for a community event and livestream competition as part of AT&T\u2019s Dunk District, a pop-up activation blending street basketball, gaming, and creator culture. The effort paired NBA talent with digital personalities in an attempt to bridge traditional sports audiences with online communities.<\/p>\n
The brand also returned as title partner of the Slam Dunk contest and built fan experiences throughout NBA Crossover, including spaces where attendees could recharge both their phones and themselves.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Another centerpiece of Paul\u2019s involvement was the HBCU Classic, where AT&T served as presenting partner for a matchup between Hampton University and North Carolina A&T State University. He met with the players ahead of the game to talk about the opportunity to compete on the All-Star stage.<\/p>\n
Similar to his connection to AT&T, Paul also has a link to the world of HBCUs. Although he played his college basketball at Wake Forest, Paul entered the NBA Draft and left the school without graduating. But in 2022, he enrolled at Winston-Salem State University, an HBCU, where he received a bachelor\u2019s degree in mass communications.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo bring out the players from these HBCUs, and for AT&T to be behind that, connecting them, that was amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a chance to talk to them about the stage they were going to play on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event is part of a broader effort by both the NBA and its partners to expand exposure and professional pathways for HBCU athletes and students.<\/p>\n
A transition moment<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s All-Star appearance came at a moment of transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old announced last week that he was retiring after 21 seasons, a career that included 12 All-Star selections, multiple Olympic gold medals, and a long tenure as president of the National Basketball Players Association.<\/p>\n
After many years of spending seasons apart from his family, who live in Los Angeles, Paul said he\u2019s looking forward to being more present with his wife and kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for a long time,\u201d Paul said. \u201cGetting a chance to be present for my family every day is something I\u2019m looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expects to remain involved in the sport on the business side, potentially through ownership opportunities or the budding NBA Europe, but his All-Star role offered an early glimpse of how his post-playing career may take shape: at the intersection of brands, community, and the business of the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just hours after announcing his retirement from the NBA, Chris Paul spent All-Star Weekend stepping into a different…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,5842,6,14830],"class_list":{"0":"post-609611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-general","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports-marketing-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116091381798850840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}