Fifty young basketball players will gather at the Air Canada Centre on sunday morning for a clinic run by a quartet of capable teachers — the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry and three Canadian stars: Boston’s Kelly Olynyk, Milwaukee’s Tyler Ennis and the NBA rookie of the year, Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins.

That four NBA players with local ties would run a one-day camp isn’t unusual. One of the factors driving the proliferation of elite Canadian players is the willingness of homegrown pros to teach what they have learned to younger generations.

The novelty is that BMO is underwriting the clinic as part of a basketball-based marketing push that includes endorsement deals with all four of the NBA players involved.

While the bank sponsors teams in MLS (Toronto FC, Montreal Impact) and the NBA (Raptors, Bucks, Chicago Bulls), this is its first partnership with players in either league. Chief marketing officer Connie Stefankiewicz says signing the four players was the logical next step as the bank looks to deepen its involvement in sports.

“We’re going to leverage what we’ve learned with respect to soccer and bring that to basketball,” Stefankiewicz said. “We’re trying to get BMO’s brand out there. We’re trying to build awareness. We’re trying to do it in a way that actually resonates.”

Sports marketing experts say the timing isn’t a coincidence.

Basketball’s popularity continues to grow locally, boosted by Wiggins’ rookie season, the Raptors’ signing of Durham Region native Cory Joseph, and Canada’s gold medals in men’s and women’s basketball at the Pan Am Games last month.

Meanwhile, the 2016 NBA All-Star Game arrives next February. Promoting the game was a central element in the deal that made hip hop star Drake a global ambassador for the Raptors, and sports marketing experts say numerous companies are brainstorming ways to capitalize on the event.

With its pre-existing partnerships with the Raptors, Bulls and Bucks, BMO already had a foothold. Deals with Lowry, an all-star last season, and Wiggins give BMO even more options, says Ryerson University sports marketing professor Cheri Bradish.

Between now and February she expects a flurry of basketball-themed sports marketing deals.

“These players fit within the formula of what makes a successful sports endorser,” said Bradish, the Loretta Rogers research chair at the Ted Rogers School of Business. “It’s important to watch where the banks are going because generally that signals where our industry is going.”

The marketing momentum in Toronto basketball has been building for a while.

Lowry signed a deal with Sport Chek in February and, seven weeks later, Under Armour honoured the now-departed Raptor Greivis Vasquez with his own shoe.

Wiggins, a Vaughan native, had sealed partnerships with Adidas and supplement maker BioSteel before he even played his first regular-season game.

Partnerships with shoe and sports nutrition companies are common for pro athletes, but deals with financial institutions are rare, though retired NBA star Steve Nash has partnered with Tangerine Bank since 2009, when it was still ING.

This week’s deal fills voids for both parties, says George Brown College sports marketing professor Peter Widdis.

The athletes can add a non-traditional category to their endorsement portfolios, and BMO now has a group of spokespeople who, like the GTA, are culturally diverse, Widdis says.

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For him, the bank’s strategy isn’t too different from a sneaker company’s when it sponsors a star player or a high-profile team. It’s speaking to a young, multicultural group of sports fans and seeking to convert them into future customers.

“With shoes and apparel it’s already been done, but for a bank it’s pretty amazing,” Widdis said. “They’re walking the talk. They’re speaking to the 19-year-old kid at Oakwood Collegiate who might want to go to their bank.”

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