For a long time, NBA media has treated credentialed reporters and independent creators as if they belong in competing worlds. One side brings access, sourcing, and daily experience around a team. The other understands personality, audience habits, and how to build a community around conversation.
HMA is betting that local coverage works better when those strengths share the same show.
The agency has introduced three weekly NBA programs through its Creator Collective: the Timberwolves Collective, the Heat Collective, and the 76ers Collective. The Philadelphia show became available Sept. 21, the Miami edition followed Sept. 22, and Minnesota’s program will stream live Sept. 29.
On the surface, this looks like a standard expansion announcement. Look closer, and it offers a clear picture of where team-focused sports media may go next.
HMA is not choosing between traditional journalism and creator-driven programming. It is putting both at the same table.
HMA is building lineups, not simply filling seats
The hosts reveal the strategy more clearly than any corporate description could.
Dane Moore, Jon Krawczynski, and Mike Trudell will lead the Timberwolves show. Moore already hosts an NBA podcast centered on Minnesota and broader league conversations. Krawczynski covers the Timberwolves, NBA, and Vikings for The Athletic, while Trudell brings experience as a sideline reporter, host, and analyst.
The Heat program follows a similar formula with Will Manso, Ethan Skolnick, and Brendan Tobin. Their backgrounds stretch across local television, team reporting, digital network leadership, and personality-led sports discussion.
Ryan Brown, Adam Aaronson, and Tony Jones handle the Philadelphia edition. HMA identifies Brown as the host of the top YouTube program covering the 76ers and NBA. Aaronson writes about the Sixers for PhillyVoice, and Jones covers the team for The Athletic.
Those combinations matter. HMA could have built each show entirely around established reporters or handed every production to popular digital hosts. Instead, it assembled groups that approach the same team from different positions.
That choice gives the shows a chance to offer more than three people trading familiar opinions. The journalists can bring the discipline and context that come from covering a team closely. The creators can help turn that information into a conversation viewers actively want to join.
Have been looking for and wanting to find ways to work with Jon for years — and am excited to share this season we will be, with a new show called Wolves Collective (follow here: @WolvesHMA).
Better yet, we're teaming up with Mike (@LakersReporter), who is someone I've had a… pic.twitter.com/s64o7dpIvW
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) September 22, 2026
Credibility and digital reach can strengthen each other
Media companies sometimes discuss creators as replacements for journalists. HMA’s model challenges that framing.
Creators do not have to imitate beat writers, and reporters do not need to become exaggerated online personalities. Each person can contribute something distinct. The value comes from letting those abilities meet without pretending they are identical.
HMA founder and CEO Borna Nazari described that goal directly.
“We built this model to marry the very best creative vision with the top journalistic coverage, and have remained true to our word with this recent slate,” Nazari said.
Article Continues BelowThat marriage could prove especially useful in team-specific coverage. A reporter may know which development deserves attention, while a creator may better understand how to frame the discussion for an audience that consumes sports through YouTube and other digital platforms. Neither contribution automatically outweighs the other.
The model also gives both sides something valuable. Journalists receive another way to connect with younger, digitally focused viewers. Creators gain regular access to experienced reporters whose work can add depth and authority to a discussion.
That does not diminish either role. It recognizes that strong reporting and strong presentation solve different parts of the same problem.
Team-focused programming is becoming the foundation
The scale of HMA’s operation makes these launches more significant than a trial involving three NBA markets. The Creator Collective now includes 24 shows, and HMA expects to introduce more over the next year. Its NFL programming already covers teams including the Chiefs, Cowboys, Seahawks, 49ers, and Eagles.
HMA also represents video inventory connected to more than 250 sports programs. That wider structure gives the company room to develop a repeatable format while keeping each show attached to a particular fan base.
That balance will matter. A network can create efficiency, resources, and a recognizable identity. Local coverage still needs people who understand why one team’s audience cares about a subject that another market might barely notice.
The Collective reflects that reality. It gives each team its own roundtable rather than forcing every discussion into one national voice. In an era filled with broad debates, the most useful growth opportunity may come from getting more specific.
The format still has to earn its audience
A smart structure does not guarantee a compelling program. Putting respected names together only creates the opportunity. Chemistry, preparation, timing, and the quality of each conversation will determine whether viewers return every week.
The best version of this model will allow disagreement without manufacturing conflict. It will value information without becoming stiff, and it will embrace personality without letting noise replace substance. That is a difficult balance, but HMA has assembled hosts capable of pursuing it.
Its NBA expansion ultimately represents more than three additions to a growing portfolio. HMA is proposing that local sports coverage does not have to choose between authority and accessibility.
The next phase can include both.
If these shows succeed, their greatest contribution will not be proving that creators can become journalists or that journalists can become creators. It will be proving that each group becomes more valuable when the format gives both room to do what they do best.