In the winter of 2017, a kid from Kenosha, Wisconsin posted a video on Instagram of himself crossing over his high school gym teacher. The teacher had issued the challenge. The teacher did not see what was coming.
Three hundred thousand views by the end of the week. ESPN reposted it. Then SBNation. Then Bleacher Report. By the time a Tuesday gym class had finished making its way around the internet, Tristan Jass had a decision to make: treat it as a moment, or treat it as a beginning.
He chose the beginning.
Built, Not Lucked Into
What followed wasn’t the usual arc of a teenager who got lucky and cashed out on fleeting fame. Jass posted near-daily for years. Today, at 26, he has over 12.5 million followers across platforms — and more precisely, he is the NBA’s trick-shot partner of choice.
Upper deck of the NBA Finals in Dallas: 100.4 million plays. Pre-tip first look from the court floor at NBA México: 42.8 million. Off the top of the Basketball Hall of Fame on the night of the 2025 enshrinement: 21.9 million. These aren’t highlight cameos. These are produced moments the league trusts one person to deliver. HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE. That’s what the official @nba feed writes when it posts a Jass clip. That’s a brand, earned.
The Proof
He played in the 2024 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Indianapolis and put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists. He could actually play. In a MrBeast challenge he faced Giannis Antetokounmpo for $100,000. He won. He donated all of it.
In December 2024 he announced he needed brain surgery to remove a tumor, detected through the annual MRIs he’d been getting for six years. He went public. He had the surgery. He came back. In 2025 the Vancouver Bandits of the Canadian Elite Basketball League signed him to his first professional contract. His pro debut: 28 points off the bench, 18 in the first quarter alone. The caption read simply, “Welcome to the show.” The clip hit 3.4 million plays.
The Roots Stayed Local
The basketball creator economy didn’t exist when Jass started posting. He is one of the reasons it does now. He still goes home to Kenosha. Even as he was preparing for brain surgery, he donated to help Kenosha families at Christmas.
The game got global. The roots stayed local. The crossover was just the first one. Still going. Watch the tape.
