Every basketball friend group has, at one point, engaged in this conversation: name the most obscure NBA players you can think of. It’s a fun and charming exercise that evokes nostalgia and shows off historical knowledge. So, what do Isaiah Joe, Jakob Poeltl, and Julian Champagnie all have in common besides being adored by small market fan bases? They each have their own fan accounts.
Surprisingly, every single player in the NBA has a fan account.
In recent years, NBA Twitter has been flooded with fan accounts dedicated to every player and team in the League. There are hundreds of accounts driven by one main goal: to enhance the success of their chosen player or franchise.
If you search for anyone from Stephen Curry to Xavier Tillman and add “Muse” to their name, you are likely to find an account that regularly posts about them—some even engage in reply threads vying for the “official” title. From Aaron Wiggins to Josh Green to G-League star Andre Ingram, there are accounts dedicated to representing these players with fervor. It’s random, strange, and almost nonsensical. Yet, they create memes, tease each other during games, are followed by All-Stars, and garner millions of impressions each week.
The world of Muse accounts has inspired legal action, led to social media careers for account holders, and shaped an entire era of sports social media, for better or for worse. Some view them as the “downfall of NBA Twitter,” some love the added entertainment they provide, and some are unaware of the supposed reason for their existence: the statistical performance of individual players.
“In a modern sense of masculinity, it’s heartwarming to know that these kids, teenagers, adults, are real people talking about who they miss and enjoy. That beauty is wonderful, and that’s why I enjoy being a part of it,” said the account holder behind SpursMuse.
As Muse accounts for the lesser-known players on NBA rosters continued to emerge this past season, we wanted to truly understand what a Muse account entailed. How do they gather these vague yet specific advanced stats? Why are they feuding and insulting each other? Is this a job? Do they get paid? Why does Mason Plumlee have a dedicated account tracking his nightly stats? Where did all this come from?
For the past few months, we have been on a quest for answers. We reached out to various Muse accounts to learn how they started, and we delved into the inner workings of the Network. We even had conversations with the founders of StatMuse to see if they were behind this phenomenon that uses their visual likeness (more on that later). And we may have found some answers.
Fan accounts on NBA Twitter are nothing new, but these Muse accounts are a different breed. Utilizing StatMuse’s AI-powered sports statistic search engine, these accounts fuel online discussions, banter, and engagement filled with cartoonish player illustrations across the League. Every statistical achievement you can imagine is posted on a nightly basis.
For the past two and a half years, the Muse Network has transformed X—formerly known as Twitter—into a hub for some of the most obscure online sports feuds in recent memory. While all accounts are associated with the sports stats company StatMuse, not everyone sees eye to eye. Ultimately, this is basketball. It’s competitive.
For instance, some individuals within the Muse Network mentioned that they were not on good terms with KnicksMuse. The account holder reportedly blocked several accounts from the Knicks community. Last June, he engaged in public disputes with both DeerMuse and BucksMuse. Depending on who you ask, he either left or was kicked out of the community’s over 70-person group chat due to ongoing disagreements.
He’s not alone. Each account displays unwavering loyalty to their team or player. Voicing grievances is a weekly occurrence as new pages join the fray almost daily.
WiseMuse, a shortened form of James Wiseman, found themselves in a back-and-forth with an anime page in February when Marcus Morris Sr.’s account joined in to mock them for having an account solely dedicated to the Pistons center. These encounters have even coined their own term, “Muse Beef.”
In 2014, Eli Dawson and Adam Elmore recognized a new intersection between sports, statistics, and software. They founded StatMuse, a media company focused on creating easily digestible stats content with the help of AI.
“Going back to 2014 when Adam wrote the first line of code, Siri existed, but the AI explosion we see today hadn’t happened yet,” Dawson explains. “Our core belief was that this decade would see humans starting to communicate with computers. And once that conversation began, it would revolutionize the media experience, allowing for interactive, dynamic storytelling where you could inquire about anything on your mind and receive a detailed response simply by asking.”
A decade ago, searching for “Highest career playoff FG% by a player with 20+ MPG (minimum 15 games)” wouldn’t yield immediate results for players like DeAndre Jordan, Dereck Lively II, or Rudy Gobert. You’d have to manually sift through the data or hope someone else had asked the question. Now, StatMuse does all the heavy lifting for you.
With a plethora of statistical feats and anomalies to explore, social media took the baton from there.
The phenomenon began in late 2021 and early 2022 with accounts like WarriorsMuse—now boasting 98.1K followers—and MavsMuse—now sitting at 46.4K—making their debut. Others followed suit that fall, and the Network’s organic nature came to fruition. Creating an account for a perennial All-Star is one thing; there’s a constant flow of data and playing time to work with. Constructing an entire account for a role player like Zeke Nnaji or JT Thor—which indeed exists—may seem ludicrous. Yet, it continues to happen.
“Once StatMuse started getting more involved and engaging with us, it transformed into something different,” notes the SpursMuse account holder. “But in the early stages, it was just a casual page. No structure, no organization. Just a social media account like any other person would have.”
As followers grew and accounts multiplied, StatMuse decided to embrace the community of individuals who were advocating for their brand. Retweets, quote tweets, and follows acted as an official seal of approval from the company. Once nearly every team had a representative, they encouraged their followers to create even more accounts for the remaining players and teams.
“I remember when I first started, one of the big goals was to get StatMuse to follow you. Once they did, you knew you had credibility,” shares the HeatMuse account holder.
Currently, members of the Network can generate revenue through X’s ad revenue system. Smaller accounts typically earn around $15 to $30 per month, while larger pages rake in approximately $80, as estimated by the SpursMuse account holder. Some accounts earn more by entering into sponsored content agreements with small companies seeking to reach their X audience.
At the end of June, StatMuse unveiled a complete website redesign. The company is currently exploring initiatives that would allow account holders to share in economic ventures, such as splitting the advertising revenue earned from the new site. This is a significant improvement from the $500 vouchers account holders used to receive for the company’s online merchandise store.
With around 500 accounts spanning across various professional sports leagues, the Muse Network offers a range of content approaches. Some accounts focus on hard statistics, while others delve into the nuances of social media.
“SpursMuse gained traction because I always had a comedic element to my account where everything seemed useless, lacked context, and was devoid of a broader perspective. That’s just part of the conversation with any online sports statistic,” says the SpursMuse account holder. “I became intrigued by the idea of finding the funniest stats that omitted crucial context.”
He points to an April 16 post as an example.
“LeBron James has an infinite number of triple-doubles past the age of 38. However, Timmy D is the only player with two blocks,” he explains. “I enjoy doing that, removing context and presenting the basic stat, making it more abstract and fun in a way.”
Omitting context on social media is a gamble that MavsMuse recently realized might not be worth it. Following the NBA Finals, MavsMuse tweeted that Jason Kidd was the first person to reach the Finals as both a player and coach for the same team. However, the tweet failed to mention that this claim was based on the ABA and NBA merger.
This oversight prompted fellow users to issue a Community Note, highlighting that legends like Bill Russell, Al Attles, Pat Riley, and KC Jones had previously achieved this feat.
This playful approach on NBA Twitter has elicited mixed responses throughout the Network’s existence. Social media can be unforgiving, with one misstep leading to condemnation from the entire community. Yet, the freedom associated with joining the Network is alluring. For accounts like BrunsonMuse, the focus wasn’t solely on stats.
In September of 2021, ObiMuse, an account dedicated to Obi Toppin, was created as a joke. The New Yorker behind the account noticed the influx of accounts and made a bet with his cousin to see who could reach 1,000 followers first. After a week and about 20 tweets, ObiMuse surpassed 1K followers.
By the start of the 2022-23 season, the account had amassed around 3,000 followers. By March, the account holder lost interest in growing the following, leading to a rebrand. Meanwhile, rumors of an impending Obi Toppin trade surfaced, coinciding with Jalen Brunson’s success post-trade to The Mecca. In a matter of minutes, ObiMuse transformed into BrunsonMuse.
The account holder of BrunsonMuse attributes the growth of his account to two factors: prioritizing quality over quantity in posts and Jalen Brunson’s emergence as a legitimate superstar. Brunson’s stellar 2023-24 season propelled his page to over 14K followers. Similarly, WolvesMuse experienced a surge, gaining nearly 7,000 followers this season thanks to Anthony Edwards establishing himself as the League’s next superstar.
“Honestly, the accounts for each player and team are like stocks,” explains the BrunsonMuse account holder. “If Jalen has a great week, I’ll gain more followers than the previous week. If he has a slow week, likes and engagement drop. It’s really a reflection of how successful the team or player we represent is.”
Running an account like this necessitates a level of dedication few can match. Monitoring, defending, and following a single player throughout an entire year is a commitment only beat reporters can relate to. Discovering that high schoolers, college students, and everyday young adults are behind these accounts sheds light on their origins. It’s no surprise that the next generation birthed one of the most contentious social trends in sports.
“They all poke fun at me in the main chat,” says the SpursMuse account holder, chuckling. “I get the most flak out of anyone. Everyone calls me an old-timer. They mock me about watching Wilt’s 100-point game—it’s all in good fun. It’s funny, I’m not that old, I’m just older than half the chat.” (He’s in his mid-20s.)
Yes, there’s a group chat. Over a year and a half ago, several OG accounts set up the chat that now accommodates nearly all of the Network’s prominent members, currently totaling around 70 individuals. The chat has evolved into an extension of the Network’s potential, connecting fans from various corners of the world, with account holders residing in Germany, Australia, and across Asia.
Every account we spoke with expressed their enjoyment of the experience, but the Network is not devoid of social media’s pitfalls. “If one Muse account is subpar, it reflects poorly on the entire community,” notes the HeatMuse account holder. “This is a point we emphasize in our chat.”
StatMuse permits what they refer to as “good participants” to use their intellectual property, such as their hand-drawn images and incorporating the company’s handle into account names. In return, these accounts are expected to maintain the brand image of StatMuse. However, this can be challenging when anyone can create an account with Muse in the name.
“I’ve always worried, personally, that we may be infringing on copyright. At its core, aren’t we all doing that? If one account jeopardizes StatMuse’s likeness, it could lead to repercussions for everyone,” says the SpursMuse account holder. “I wish more people understood the potential impact of that.”
Not only are the account holders aware of the possible consequences, but they have also witnessed them firsthand through an account that no longer exists, known as BrickMuse.
This specific account focused on meme-driven content and sought to boost its posts using likes and shares from bot accounts. While the account was part of the group chat for a period, several members voiced their disapproval of the individual and the manner in which they promoted their page. In the 2023-24 regular season, the community reached a breaking point when BrickMuse disseminated false narratives about certain players having disabilities.
Account holders promptly reached out to StatMuse administrators in an effort to have BrickMuse removed. Allegedly, the company took it a step further and pursued legal action, compelling the individual to relinquish their account entirely and sever all ties to StatMuse.
“Ultimately, it’s our intellectual property. If an account begins to have a negative impact on our brand, we have the right to request they cease using our images,” Dawson explains. “While rare, at this point, the community welcomes new members who are positive and eager to discuss statistics. It’s becoming a self-sustaining community.”
Despite encountering the darker side of social media on multiple occasions, the Muse Network continues to hold an eccentric charm. It’s perplexing yet endearing, captivating in its randomness. With new accounts constantly emerging, the strangeness and unpredictability show no signs of abating. There are accounts for Markieff Morris debating with a Cam Reddish supporter over who was the superior Lakers role player—Morris or Talen Horton-Tucker—all supported by statistics. It’s a spectacle that defies imagination.
Photos via StatMuse.
