Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder may be out of the NBA playoffs due to an injury, but he is back in play as the star of a marketing campaign from Nike’s Jordan Brand and national retailer Champs Sports.

A TV spot featuring Westbrook will break tonight during NBA programming, showing the Thunder all-star guard sporting Jordan Brand kicks and apparel. The commercial, “Game Starts Here,” will then hit cinema this weekend and is scheduled to run on cable and network sports programming through the NBA Finals in June. Support includes Internet and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Westbrook has been out since the second game of the playoffs after tearing the meniscus in his right knee. The NBA had been running a TV spot starring Westbrook under its BIG umbrella campaign but pulled it after he was ruled out for the post-season.

The TV spot, from ad agency Zambezi, was filmed on April 2, according to Champs Sports, which was weeks before Westbrook’s injury on April 26. It shows a high school player using Westbrook as his inspiration to help his team win the state championship. The player ultimately becomes Westbrook, adorned in his Jordan Brand Nike’s. The action plays out to rapper T.I.’s “Go Get It.”

According to Frank Bracken, VP of marketing for Champs Sports, “[We] are an unrivaled destination for Jordan Brand product(s). And we’re extremely excited to be working on this campaign with Russell, who really personifies on-court and off-court game.”

Barry Janoff is director of sports media marketing initiatives for PromaxBDA. He also is the executive editor for NYSportsJournalism.com, which covers national sports marketing, business and media news; and a contributing writer for Yahoo! and MediaPost.

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