The Sixers sent out a press release on Monday morning, announcing a partnership with a company called Color Star Technology.

I accidentally skipped over it and didn’t even read it, but Dan McQuade at Defector did some sniffing and came across this:

I have no clue what is going on here. The guy is talking about himself in the third person on Linkedin. His photo looks like the character I made in Baldur’s Gate back in 1998. And for some context here, he’s referred to as “sir” in this press release here.

The press release from the Sixers is different, and it might help us out. It reads like this:

PHILADELPHIA – DEC. 20 – The Philadelphia 76ers announced today a partnership with Color Star, an entertainment technology company with a global network that focuses on the application of tech and artificial intelligence (AI) in the entertainment industry.  

This marks Color Star’s first partnership with a North American professional sports team.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Philadelphia 76ers, a top-level NBA team. The NBA is the most global American sports league in terms of impact. The 76ers have a huge fan base around the world,” said Lucas Capetian, Chief Executive Officer of Color Star Technology. “We hope that this cooperation can enrich the content of our metaverse platform ‘Color World’, and hope that through NBA games and events, global audiences would have access to and learn more about our metaverse platform. We are sure this will be a win-win partnership. We believe a more in-depth strategic partnership with the Philadelphia 76ers will come along in the future. Through the partnership with the Philadelphia 76ers, we would attract more users and attention to engage the Color World platform.”   

The 76ers and Color Star will also collaborate on content featuring exclusive interviews with 76ers representatives, including executives and former players. During these interviews, 76ers representatives will elaborate on their respective roles within the organization as well as give an inside look into the business of basketball.

Included in the partnership, brokered by Red Phoenix Entertainment, Color Star will receive premium branding at 76ers home games.  

Artificial intelligence? Metaverse platforms? This is the most Sixers thing ever. They are all about NFTs and crypto and stuff that makes you feel like you’re living on another planet.

I’m all for entering the “Color World” metaverse platform if it means the Sixers finally fucking trade Ben Simmons. And maybe we can get a non-fungible token of a perimeter creator. Daryl Morey and Chris Heck are smart guys and probably know more than we do, but are the Sixers even a basketball team at this point? Seems like most people down there are more interested in tech. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m beginning to feel like a real-world version of a bored ape. Bored with the product currently on the floor.

Let’s get it back to basketball.

edit – looks like people are doing some sleuthing here, check out Dan’s tweet for some weird revelations