If you saw a guy who painted his nails and posted videos of himself dancing on TikTok every day, your first guess probably wouldn’t be that he plays in the NBA. But this “guy,” Jared McCain, was drafted last week by the Sixers with the 16th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
McCain is a talented athlete with an incredibly infectious personality. He is almost always seen smiling, laughing or dancing. He’s also been a winner on the basketball court in high school and during his lone year at Duke. But his social media presence is what truly separates him.
With just over 4 million followers combined on Instagram and Tiktok, McCain went megaviral for his TikToks during Duke’s 2024 March Madness run, iconically posting a video of himself and his teammates in the locker room dancing to a popular song right after taking down top seed Houston.
That was not the first time McCain had pulled a stunt like that. In fact, he’s been doing it since his high school days. He posted a video with his high school teammates after winning the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) title and a dance with members of the USA U18 National Team after winning gold at the FIBA Americas Championship.
A unique approach
Born in 2004, McCain is a product of the digital age, and he is changing the way we view professional athletes.
Many pro athletes use social media, but most will only post highlights of their games, pregame outfits, or pictures of family and friends. Some have started media operations of their own, like the podcast hosted by McCain’s new teammate, Paul George, but these usually hue very close to their chosen sport. Few of these athletes use social media the way McCain does. And while he’s unusual, he’s not alone.
Increasingly, we’re seeing athletes breaking out and doing different things on social media. The AAU basketball team Rod Wave Elite (RWE) has some of the top-ranked high school basketball players in the country, and are popular enough that they have nearly shut down events, sometimes causing hour-long delays because of the number of fans coming to watch them play.
Online, they are enormous, boasting nearly 10 million followers across platforms.
Last summer RWE played at the Spooky Nook in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the team required security to escort them in and out of the gym because of the size of their crowd. This was not a one-time thing for RWE; most tournaments are like this for them. While RWE does post basketball highlights, a lot of their content on TikTok will involve head coach Cam Wilder dancing with his players. Sometimes it’s just for fun, other times it’s after winning a tournament to flex their medals, very similar to McCain.
McCain’s oldest TikTok dates back to February 2020, when he was only 15 years old. It was a simple dance video with a friend. The majority of McCain’s videos are dances, but in addition to his dancing abilities, it’s also the context of his videos that intrigues people.
His followers have been able to come along his journey as a basketball player, from his high school days winning championships, to his college recruitment process where he showcased his visits to schools including University of Louisville and Duke, where he eventually committed. Once at Duke, McCain posted videos of him and his teammates before and after practice, on team trips and simply hanging out. Almost every one of these videos got over 1 million views. There’s an appeal to seeing a high-level athlete participating in TikTok trends like a regular teenager, because at the end of the day, that’s what McCain was at the time, a teenager.
Some people within sports media criticized McCain’s online presence, especially after the Blue Devils were upset by 11-seeded North Carolina State in the NCAA Tournament. But Duke’s head coach, Jon Scheyer, told Sports Illustrated, “It was literally never a distraction.” His on-the-court performance certainly backs this up: McCain averaged 14.3 points per game on a star-studded Duke roster, and made over 41% of his attempts from beyond the three-point line.
Popular pick
Sixers fans overwhelmingly approved of the draft pick, and the majority of comments on their Instagram post were positive. One commenter who watched the TV analysis of his selection wrote: “I was skeptical because they only showed his tiktoks instead of highlights [of his play]. I have found his highlights, I am no longer skeptical.”
The Sixers social media team is obviously pleased to have an internet celebrity on the team. They posted a video of McCain talking to the fans almost immediately after he was drafted.
Two days after getting drafted, he was already in a Sixers uniform and, of course, he’s dancing.
McCain’s joyful personality will likely mesh well with Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey, who is also known for his big smile. Will the most joyful backcourt duo in the NBA finally lead this Sixers team past the second round of the playoffs? We can only hope. What’s certain is Jared McCain is a natural and captivating entertainer both on and off the court.
