Have you ever wondered how to measure Victor Wembanyama’s height in Oreo cookies, how birth order affects NBA performance, or which zodiac sign is the best at basketball?
Chances are you haven’t. But for those questions and others you didn’t even know you had, the NBA Research & Development Department has an answer.
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The popular Instagram account with the handle @nbaresdev launched surreptitiously on June 11, 2025 – the same day as Game 3 of the NBA Finals – by posting the aforementioned Wembanyama video. Since then, NBA R&D has posted 58 videos that approach fun, quirky basketball questions with serious data analysis.
The account’s bio proclaims it’s, “The official unofficial testing lab of the NBA,” and it’s not entirely unsanctioned.
NBA R&D is the brainchild of NBA Take-Two Media, a collaboration between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the NBA 2K video game series. The new entertainment company, shorthanded as NBAT2, formed last summer and produces competitive gaming, social-first content, original programming and live events.
Basketball, yes. But fashion, baddies, and astrocartography, too
NBAT2 CEO Andrew Perlmutter said the partnership taps into basketball’s broader appeal.
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“Basketball, as a force, isn’t just a sport and it doesn’t just reflect culture. It shapes culture,” Perlmutter said. “And it is wired into so many other facets of culture that we all love, whether it’s gaming or fashion or music or color theory or astrocartography.”
