Not your stereotypical baller
By Grace D’Angelo
“It don’t matter if he’s gay, straight, side ways you can’t guard him,” says user @readytheempire in a clapback response to another user’s comment, “I forgot about this queer.” Love him or hate him (and it takes a crick in the neck and a spilled morning latte to hate him), social media sensation/basketball phenom Jared McCain simply does not care.
McCain’s ball-knowledge is elite, starting from his standout career as a Duke University point guard to being chosen by the Philadelphia 76ers as the 16th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft. McCain was named to the ACC All-Rookie team in 2024 before tearing his meniscus and later being traded to Oklahoma City Thunder, where he resides as happy and spunky as ever. But it would be a mistake to read him just as a baller. In typical Gen Z fashion, when McCain’s not busy getting after it in the gym, he somehow manages to maintain a dominant social media presence (and an iconic one at that).
The second @jaredmccain hits the TikTok search bar and the plethora of videos materialize, your first thought might be (as mine was): this guy is a total vibe. The rectangular, pink lens glasses and cropped white tee accompanied by a tasteful amount of silver bling on his neck and wrists are only the beginning of McCain’s undeniable swag. Part of the drip is McCain’s infectious energy and permanent smile that stretches from ear to ear—oh, and his colorfully painted fingernails. McCain’s clean cut, brightly colored nails continue to be a source of contention among the chronically online, with haters often calling him cringe and gay. All I can say is that there is no foreseeable future in which McCain dilutes any part of his quirky formula.
The 6’3’’ 22-year old from Sacramento, California can tear it up on the dance floor. He’s hitting the types of moves you do in that stage of borderline psychosis when you take your 11pm study break, blasting music in your airpods and letting any funky movement spill out of your body just to keep the neurons firing. He knows how to work a camera, pointing and bumpin’ his hands to the beat while sinking his shoulders back and to the side with immense rhythm. He has a music taste like no other jacked professional basketball player I’ve ever seen, which he gets some grief for when he’s on aux playing niche, lo-fi music at practice.
His 15-second videos get hundreds of thousands of likes, but the most popular are McCain’s solo, no backing-track, singing videos. Most notably was McCain’s rendition of “2 Days Into College,” where the rookie freshman at Duke clears his throat and nails the opening line, “I’m two days into college and three lectures behind, there’s this guy lets name him Colin, he says he wants to be mine.” The video was simple: a post-practice clip with a towel thrown over his neck, his voice echoing off the walls of the locker room. 1.5 million dropped a like. Then, the powerful force that is TikTok editors, started making videos of McCain balling out and sinking 3’s, with the background audio being a remix starting off with McCain’s singing before merging into the artist’s voice.
With McCain’s newfound recognition online also came truckloads of hate, but one thing is for sure: McCain remains authentically himself and will stay, as one user says, the “same dude who drops 20pts on your favorite team,” before dancing the night away on your phone. Swish.
