Jalen Brunson first experienced the fervor of the N.B.A.’s biggest international market in 2018 when, as a rookie, he traveled with the Dallas Mavericks to China for a pair of preseason games. The trip itself was brief, but the reception that Mr. Brunson and his teammates received left a lasting impression.

杰伦·布伦森第一次亲身感受到NBA最大国际市场的热情是在2018年，他当时还是一名新秀，随达拉斯独行侠队去中国参加了两场季前赛。虽然那次旅行本身很短暂，但布伦森和他的队友们受到的欢迎给他留下了难忘的印象。

“The fandom that basketball brought to that country, I thought it was really cool and interesting and something I wanted to be a part of,” Mr. Brunson said in a recent interview.

“篮球在那个国家引发的球迷热情，我觉得真的很酷、很有趣，我想成为其中的一部分，”布伦森在最近一次采访中说。

Now a star for the New York Knicks, Mr. Brunson, 28, took a crucial step toward that goal before the current N.B.A. season when his representatives at Creative Arts Agency enlisted a digital management company, East Goes Global, to create and run Chinese social media accounts for him. In the months since, Mr. Brunson has gained more than 400,000 followers across five of the country’s major apps: Bilibili, Douyin, RedNote, Weibo and WeChat.

如今，28岁的布伦森已是纽约尼克斯队的球星，在NBA本赛季开始之前，他已朝着那个目标迈出了关键一步，他在创新艺人经纪公司（简称CAA）的代表们请了一家数字管理公司East Goes Global为他在中国社交媒体上创建和管理账号。此后的几个月里，布伦森在中国五大主流应用（哔哩哔哩、抖音、小红书、微博、微信）上已收获了40多万粉丝。

Mr. Brunson is one of several N.B.A. players looking to establish an online presence in China, where millions of people follow the league closely. But given the language barrier and differing societal norms and trends — not to mention an insular Chinese internet where popular western platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and X are blocked and content is reviewed by the government — most have sought help from companies with specific expertise in navigating the digital landscape.

布伦森是想在中国建立网络影响力的几名NBA球员之一，这里有大量关心NBA赛事的球迷。但由于语言障碍，加上不同的社会规范和趋势——更不用说中国的互联网与世隔绝，YouTube、Instagram、X等流行的西方平台被屏蔽，网上内容受政府审查——大多数球星为在中国的网上运作向具有数字领域特定专业知识的公司寻求帮助。

“I think it’s important to understand your audience, and I think a lot of smart people understand what they know and what they don’t know,” Mr. Brunson said. “It was key for me to let someone else do it, because they understand more than me. Even though I am the face of it, they really run it.”

“我觉得了解你的受众很重要，我觉得很多聪明人知道他们懂什么，不懂什么，”布伦森说。“对我来说，让别人来做这个是关键，因为他们比我懂得更多。尽管上面是我的面孔，但真正运作的是他们。”

Founded in 2018 by Andrew Spalter, a former music manager who lives in Austin, Texas, East Goes Global is not alone in providing such a service. Coral Lu, a former ESPN reporter, handles the Chinese social media accounts for Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Paul George of the Philadelphia 76ers. The IMG-owned company Mailman, based in Shanghai, manages 30 accounts for 14 active players.

安德鲁·斯帕尔特在2018年创办了East Goes Global，他曾是一名音乐经理，住在得州奥斯汀。提供这类服务的不只是East Goes Global一家。曾在ESPN当记者的陆垠箐(Coral Lu)负责管理洛杉矶快船队的科怀·伦纳德和费城76人队的保罗·乔治在中国社交媒体上的账号。国际管理集团旗下的邮人体育公司总部设在上海，为14名现役球员管理着30个账号。

NBA为扩大在中国的影响力所做的努力包括参加在澳门举办的国际超越博览会等活动。

“For the player, some people are really motivated by engaging with their global audience, and in cultures where basketball is huge,” said Matthew Spalter, the chief operating officer of East Goes Global, who is Andrew’s brother. “There’s also the business perspective: ‘During my basketball career, how can I scale my business? And, post-career, how can I make sure I’m not gone forever?’”

“有些球员真的很想与他们在全球的观众互动，尤其是那些篮球文化浓厚环境下的观众，”East Goes Global的首席运营官马修·斯帕尔特说，他和安德鲁是兄弟。“还有一个商业角度的考虑：‘我如何在我的篮球生涯中扩大自己的业务？而且，在职业生涯结束后，我如何确保自己不会被人遗忘？’”

The player-led push is coming at an important time for relations between the N.B.A. and China. In October 2019, a year after Mr. Brunson’s trip, a pro-Hong Kong social media post from Daryl Morey, then the general manager of the Houston Rockets, led to China pulling N.B.A. games off national television and ending the N.B.A. China Games, which had been played annually since 2012.

这些球员推动建立网络影响力的努力发生在NBA与中国关系的一个重要时刻。2019年10月，也就是布伦森访华一年后，时任休斯顿火箭队总经理的达里尔·莫雷在社交媒体上发了一条支持香港的帖子，导致中国取消了NBA赛事的全国直播，叫停了自2012年以来每年举办的NBA中国赛。

The freeze from Mr. Morey’s post, however, has significantly thawed, and the league is planning to play two exhibition games next October in the Chinese territory of Macau. With help from groups like East Goes Global, some players will be ahead of others should the relationship between the league and China return to its previous heights.

不过，莫雷帖子引发的僵局已明显缓和，NBA正在打算明年10月在中国澳门举行两场表演赛。如果NBA与中国的关系恢复到以前的程度的话，一些球员将在East Goes Global等团体的帮助下领先一步。

The work of the groups typically begins by reaching out to the various platforms to verify the player’s accounts — and often, as with Mr. Brunson, creating them in the first place. But further measures can be required, as when the team at Mailman helped an N.B.A. All-Star client recover his page on Douyin, China’s equivalent of TikTok, after it had been taken over by a mysterious third party that was posting spam content.

这类公司的工作通常是从联系中国的各个平台认证球员账号开始，更常见的工作是为球员创建账号，布伦森的情况就是这样。但有时需要进一步的措施，比如邮人体育曾帮助一名NBA全明星球员收回了抖音（中国版TikTok）上以他的名字创建的账号，该账号曾被一个发布垃圾内容的神秘的第三方拥有。

Next comes the process of creating content for a Chinese audience. Success, according to the people involved, goes beyond simply using the native language in captions and adding trending background music.

接下来就是为中国观众制作内容。据参与这些工作的人说，要想取得成功，仅仅采用中文字幕、配上流行的背景音乐是不够的。

“Mirroring the same content on your Chinese channels as your western ones really isn’t diving deeper into that Chinese culture,” said Michael Lin, a vice president of digital at Mailman who oversees its U.S. sports operation. “Athletes do a lot better when they’re creating personalized content that’s speaking to the Chinese fans.”

“把你为西方平台制作的内容原封不动地搬到中文平台上去，表明你没有真正深入了解中国文化，”负责美国体育业务的邮人体育数字副总裁迈克尔·林（音）说。“为运动员制作能吸引他们中国粉丝的个性化内容，效果会更好。”

印第安纳步行者队的泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿将自己入选2024年NBA全明星赛首发阵容归功于他在中国社交媒体上的粉丝。

For Mr. Brunson, this has meant meeting periodically with East Goes Global staff members to film exclusive videos for his Chinese accounts, including a marathon two-hour session heading into last month’s Chinese New Year during which he sampled Chinese snacks and wrote his name in Chinese characters.

对布伦森来说，这意味着要定期与East Goes Global的工作人员见面，让他们为他的中国账号拍摄独家视频，包括在上个月的春节前夕拍摄的长达两小时的马拉松式视频，他在视频中品尝了中国小吃，还用汉字写了自己的名字。

“I thought that was really cool,” he said.

“我觉得那真的很酷，”他说。

There are numerous business possibilities for N.B.A. players in China. Some have gone on huge tours across the country. Others have signed endorsement deals with Chinese shoe companies. James Harden, a star for the Clippers, sold 10,000 bottles of wine in five seconds during a Douyin livestream.

NBA球员在中国有许多商业机会。有些球员已在中国各地参加过大型巡回赛。还有一些球员与中国鞋业公司签订了代言协议。快船队球星詹姆斯·哈登在一次抖音直播中在五秒时间里就卖出了1万瓶葡萄酒。

But Mr. Lin has noticed a particular uptick in requests from players who cite another source of motivation: getting fan votes for the All-Star Game.

但林先生注意到有一类来自球员的请求明显增多了，他们提到了另一个激励来源：为参加全明星赛争取球迷投票。

The ideal playbook, in that regard, was laid out last season, when Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers rode a wave of Chinese social media support to lead Eastern Conference guards in fan voting, earning a surprising spot as a starter for the 2024 All-Star Game.

从这个方面来说，上个赛季印第安纳步行者队的泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿就提供了一个理想的范例。他借助来自中国社交媒体的支持，在球迷对东部后场首发球员的投票中领先，令人意外地入选了2024年全明星赛首发阵容。

“I know people see a player in Indiana and don’t expect that,” Mr. Haliburton said at the media day for that game, “but the love I’ve received from my fans in China has been amazing.”

“我知道人们看到球员来自印第安纳时不期待这个结果，”哈利伯顿在那场比赛的媒体日上说，“但我从中国球迷那里得到的爱一直是惊人的。”

According to Matthew Spalter, Mr. Brunson’s team at C.A.A. similarly approached East Goes Global about executing a “massive All-Star push” for this year’s game. The results? Even though Mr. Brunson finished third among Eastern Conference guards on fan ballots, he was named a starter under the league’s weighted voting formula, which also incorporated votes from the news media and the players.

据马修·斯帕尔特，布伦森在CAA的代表们已与East Goes Global进行了类似的接触，希望在今年的赛季发起一个“大规模的全明星助力运动”。结果怎样？尽管布伦森在球迷对东部后场全明星的投票中排名第三，但根据NBA计算投票的加权公式（其中也考虑了媒体和球员的投票），他仍入选了全明星赛首发阵容。

“I think it helped a lot, and I’m really appreciative of it,” Mr. Brunson said in February of the help from Chinese fans, adding that he planned to post a message of gratitude after the All-Star break.

“我觉得那帮了我的大忙，我真的很感激，”布伦森在今年2月谈到中国球迷的助力时说。他还表示，打算在全明星赛后发一个感谢贴。

Sure enough, a week or so later, a 44-second video was uploaded to Mr. Brunson’s account on Bilibili, China’s equivalent of YouTube. The video features behind-the-scenes footage from his trip to the game in San Francisco.

果然，大约一周后，一段44秒的视频上传到布伦森在哔哩哔哩（中国版YouTube）的账号上。视频主要是他去旧金山参加全明星赛的幕后花絮。

“Thanks to my friends at Bilibili for voting and supporting me,” the caption read — in Chinese characters, of course.

“感谢B站好友们的投票支持，”视频的标题写道——当然是用中文。