The NBA Season Is Back—But Can It Beat @NBAFilmTweets?

The NBA is back, and there’s a lot to look forward to. What dad jokes will Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo spit? What new conspiracy theory will Nets guard and noted Alex Jones follower Kyrie Irving spew? Which ESPN commentator will Irving’s teammate, Kevin Durant, fight to the death on Twitter? What more delightful James Harden OOTDs await us? And will Ben Simmons finally hit a three?? (Benny, if you’re reading this, I love you, you are perfect, and you don’t have to change for anyone.)

Still, I have to say, as much as I struggled through waiting out the NBA off-season this year, a new Twitter account softened the blow. That account is NBA Film Tweets (@NBAFilmTweets), which is exactly what it says it is: a page dedicated to the earnest, astute, and sometimes overly personal tweets from NBA players about various movies and TV shows. Many of these tweets date back to the early 2010s, or even earlier—a bygone era of the sincerest, most tender variety of shitposting. It joins a growing canon of niche NBA subculture accounts, but is by and large the most entertaining and endearing of them all.

The tweets reshared by @NBAFilmTweets range from the predictably horny: “It’s about to rain this whole weekend and I gots no one to cuddle and watch movies with,” Jordan Bell tweeted in 2014; “Wanna Go To The Movies With A Bad B!+ch,” Dejounte Murray tweeted in 2013, to the diehard: “If you haven’t seen Mulan, you aren’t experiencing life fully,” Landry Shamet wrote in 2014.

Some tweets are genuinely curious: “Someone explain Black Swan. I think I got it but it’s interesting to say the least,” Cole Aldrich tweeted in 2011. Others are more confessional: “#honestyhour the notebook is one of my favorite movies …. #dontjudgeme lmao,” DeMarcus Cousins tweeted in 2010. Then, you have your run-of-the-mill (for 2011) lightly homophobic takes and some truly heartbreaking theater dispatches: “I’m hurting right now. Lost my wallet at the movies last night. If anybody find it please hit me up,” Ben McLemore tweeted in 2013.

Others, like James Harden, have tweeted astute commentary about gender roles in cinema. Some expressed mixed emotions about their favorite movie franchises: “Very disappointed in the new Twilight movie!!!!” Lakers firestarter Patrick Beverly tweeted on Nov. 23, 2011. “The new Twilight movie is best movie I have seen!!! Wow it brought tears to my eyes,” he followed up on Nov. 20, 2011.

The tweets also delve into a variety of subject matter, from the likes of Sex and the City (“Soooo Im at the movie too c Sex In The City!!! Yea yea I kno!” Russell Westbrook tweeted in 2010) to Hot Tub Time Machine (“Really liked Hot Tub Time Machine… crazy storyline but you’ll def laugh…watching a little family guy now. Just comedy 24/7,” four-time NBA champion Steph Curry tweeted in 2010). They’ve tweeted about Halloween, observing that “Michael Meyer just kills people for no reason at all.” They’ve also commented on entire genres like, say, oceanography, and even dished some cheeky observations about Pixar’s Puss in Boots: “Puss n boots is a movie??? Hmmm…. I thought it was just a description for the way girls dress in Knoxville,” Tobias Harris tweeted in 2011.

I reached out to @NBAFilmTweets to let the account know just how much I adore it and invited them to be interviewed. They very kindly declined: “We don’t do media as we desire merely to be a dumb account and let the tweets about movies by NBA players speak for themselves. Glad you have enjoyed some of them and have a great NBA season!”

Respectfully, however, I disagree that @NBAFilmTweets is “merely” a “dumb account.” It’s art. It’s cinema. It’s more entertaining than a lot of the movies that players have tweeted about. The page offers an intimate glimpse into these mens’ inner lives—who they spend time with (“Jackass 3d with @russwest44 @dcookisback @jharden13 @colea45 @emillsap8 @emaynor3 Jeffrey green Dj white,” Durant wrote in 2010), who they don’t want to spend time with, their routines, and even illicit activities, like, say, enjoying pirated movies. With the exception of an adamant Jimmy Butler, it sure seems like NBA players can appreciate some quality bootlegging. Relatable kings!!

Now, there are a lot of niche NBA/NBA-adjacent Twitter accounts out there—I’m a big fan of @nba_paint, which is just clever Microsoft Paint doodles depicting players and memes. @ArtButMakeItSports is an utterly inspired assortment of NBA and sports moments and their classical painting equivalents. The parody account @BallsackSports has duped actual, credible sports media outlets on numerous occasions with its parody NBA news headlines. But there’s a uniquely wholesome, enjoyable quality to @NBAFilmTweets—it’s a reminder that the players you’re either furiously shrieking at or idolizing like Greek gods are, really, just human beings, watching the same silly little movies you’re watching and tweeting out their silly little thoughts about them.

Granted, they are multi-millionaires, billionaires, and on-track-to-be billionaires. But at the end of the day, we’re all just briefly here on Earth to enjoy a good movie or two and share our little thoughts on them.