Tunechi says “it’s game time” in the star-packed commercial.
NBA superfan Lil Wayne makes a surprise cameo in a new Chris Rock-narrated ad for the 2024 NBA playoffs. The one-minute spot that dropped a day before the play-in tournament round kicked off is premised on the notion that most A-list NBA players don’t even think the playoffs are “a thing.”
It opens with a reporter asking Jayson Tatum if “playoff Jayson” is a thing, with the Celtics forward dropping his head and saying, “nah,” as an on-screen headline reads: “Tatum denies ‘Playoff Jayson’ is a thing” in the spot titled “Playoff Mode.”
“Playoff Jayson is not a thing,” he says sternly at a fake press conference. “Okay, Tatum, we all know it’s a thing,” Rock interjects in his patented clipped delivery over a shot of Tatum throwing down a monster dunk. “Just ask Playoff Spida,” Rock says as Cavs shooting guard Donovan “Spida” Mitchell drops his head and denies it’s a thing.
Similarly, Rock gets a “not a thing” from Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Bucks guard Damian Lillard, Nuggets Center Nikola Jokić and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who denies the playoffs’ existence while doing pull-ups with a ridiculously heavy weight vest. Lillard is so annoyed at Rock’s suggestion that it’s time to finally see “Playoff Giannis [Antetokounmpo] play with Playoff Dame,” that Lillard angrily rips off the “Playoff” tag slapped up over his locker.
“Not a thing,” Lillard says.
And finally, Rock goes to the man who would know the best if it is playoff season: Lil Wayne. “Playoff Tunechi knows it’s a thing,” the comedian says over a shot of glasses-wearing Weezy concentrating really hard at a claw machine game. “It’s game time!” Wayne says as he tries, and fails, to grab an NBA player plushy from the machine. The camera then swings to a front-row shot of some celebs taking in a playoff game, including chef Guy Fieri and Puerto Rican superstar Anuel AA.
But when Rock says “even Chuck’s playoff jokes are funnier,” NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal shuts that down quickly, as he scribbles a mustache and glasses on a headshot of fellow hall of famer and broadcaster Charles Barkley. “No they are not,” Shaq says pointedly.
The playoffs, a real thing, continue on Friday (April 19) with Chicago vs. Miami at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and Sacramento vs. New Orleans at 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT, with the first round of the playoffs scheduled to kick off on Saturday (April 20).
Watch the NBA commerical below.
