About

The Dear Basketball TikTok Trend refers to a 2025 TikTok trend using an audio of late NBA player Kobe Bryant reading an original poem called "Dear Basketball" in which he professes his love for the game. The audio came from Byant's 2017 short film Dear Basketball. The TikTok trend involved people using the sound to show photos and clips of them playing basketball or other sports like soccer and volleyball, among others. The common joke was pairing the heartfelt audio with a photo or video of someone playing a sport poorly.

Origin

On July 7th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @mprodz.2 posted a Kobe Bryant edit that used clips and audio from Bryant's 2017 short film, Dear Basketball.^[2] The audio was Bryant reciting his poem called "Dear Basketball," which he wrote in 2015.^[3] The edit gained over 49,300 likes in a month (shown below).

Spread

TikToker @mprodz.2's video started a TikTok sound^[4] that was used by others on the app in the following weeks. For instance, on August 2nd, 2025, TikToker^[5] @monkeyslovekay posted a photo of herself looking at the ocean with the audio, gaining over 143,300 likes in 12 days.

On August 6th, TikToker^[6] @eki0677 posted a video of a guy missing a jumpshot by shooting it behind the backboard, set to the Dear Basketball sound. Over eight days, the video received over 464,000 likes (shown below).

On August 9th, 2025, TikToker^[7] @sniped210 posted a photo of internet comedian Druski undershooting a layup at the 2025 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game,^[8] set to the Dear Basketball sound. Over five days, the post gained over 1.3 million likes.

On August 10th, TikToker^[9] @ydk.dubb posted a video of a guy trying to dunk a basketball and falling short, set to the Dear Basketball sound. Over four days, the video gained roughly 612,200 likes (shown below).

On August 13th, 2025, TikToker^[10] @eva.bic paired the audio with a video of a girl playing soccer and kicking the ball into the faces of two players, with the caption, "Dear soccer." The video received roughly 351,800 likes in a day (shown below).

By August 14th, 2025, the trend's primary TikTok sound^[4] had amassed over 70,300 posts.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References