Do you think it’s possible to have an active, engaging TikTok following of millions of people and also be a star basketball player? If you ask the newest Philadelphia 76ers player Jared McCain, it’s basically what he does each day. He’s a Tik Tok star, and he was just drafted into the NBA. Thankfully, he’s way more into basketball than being on TikTok, even though he does do a lot on the social platform that’s great. So, you could say TikTok is his second job, but basketball is what pays the bills.
Philadelphia 76ers Player Jared McCain is a TikTok Star
The 2024 NBA Draft took place this week, and former Duke basketball player Jared McCain was one of the hottest guys in the draft. He had a star season at Duke and was expected to go in the first round. He did, with the the Philadelphia 76ers picking McCain as their No. 16 overall pick.
“At Duke, it’s a big platform in college,” he said in a virtual press conference after being picked by Philadelphia, “Obviously that comes with a lot of hate and a lot of scrutiny wherever you go, but I think that’s prepared me for where I’m at, especially with Philly. So I think I’m ready for it.”
If you’re a 76ers fan and worried that too much of this guy’s time will go to TikTok, don’t worry. Sure, he has almost 3 million TikTok followers. But, that hasn’t gotten in the way of his basketball career.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer said he was all prepared to have “the TikTok talk” with him, if McCain spent too much time on the platform and became distracted. But, he never did.
“It was literally never a distraction,” Scheyer said. “Once you’re around him, you realize he’s one of the few, maybe ever, to be able to handle both [basketball and social media] and still be all the way into everything that it takes to be a successful basketball player.”
During the virtual press conference, McCain was also asked about his height. He’s 6-3, so shorter than many players in the NBA.
“Starting with high school, I’ve always been smaller or just average-sized,” McCain said. “Being 6-3 and labeled as small, it’s always funny when I hear that… I’m just excited to continue to work on that and find ways to impact winning without being 6-9.”
If you want to see what all the excitement is about, you can find McCain’s TikTok page, at this spot.