The past few months apparently haven’t done much to recommend ObamaCare to the Americans that the Obama administration is fervently hoping to convince to sign up for the insurance through the proffered programs when their exchanges open for business this October. According to the June edition of the Kaiser health tracking poll, Americans still don’t hold the “Affordable” Care Act in high regard by an eight point margin, with 43 percent holding an unfavorable view and 35 percent a favorable view.

The outreach program to desperately sell the still-unpopular legislation to the public has already begun, but it sounds like the Obama administration has figured out that just some ordinary, run-of-the-mill political marketing campaign isn’t going to quite cut it. For an effort this massive, they need to step up their game — and how.

The Obama administration has reached out to the NBA about a potential marketing partnership to promote the health law, POLITICO has learned. The news, revealed recently by Massachusetts officials who have been in contact with the administration, offers a glimpse at how President Barack Obama’s team plans to push the new coverage options to a public that largely has been clueless about the new health insurance options. … It’s unclear whether a potential partnership would put big-name ballplayers — like James, the Miami Heat superstar — at the center of ad campaigns or whether it would be as modest as permitting the administration to affix the NBA logo onto marketing materials. An agreement itself isn’t even a slam dunk; Obamacare is partisan and controversial, and the NBA could decide it doesn’t want to go near it.

The NBA is keeping mum about the reported offer so far, but for the Obama administration, this would be a serious win — the NBA’s regular season closely coincides with the time period in which the administration needs people to sign up through the exchanges, and could help them reach a much wider audience. It’s the type of popular endorsement that could help them out a lot, and it is sounds like it isn’t the only one they’re pursuing.