The Utah Jazz has partnered with SpaceStation Gaming, the multi-game esports team founded by Salt Lake City-based social media influencer Shaun "Shonduras" McBride, the two parties told ESPN on Friday.

With the partnership, the Jazz and SpaceStation will share marketing efforts and resources as they continue to push into the esports space. The deal is not a traditional investment, merger or acquisition, as done by many other professional sports teams or their owners, but focuses solely on cross-promoting and sharing of information between the basketball team and the esports organization.

"SpaceStation being a local, Utah-based esports organization, they're going to be able to help continue to push into the esports marketplace. It's booming," Jazz chief information officer B.J. Vander Linden said. "We see this as an opportunity to really enter that marketplace, because it's so different than your traditional sports environment. With the connections Shaun and his team have, it gives us the opportunity to really get into the space and see what's going on."

The Jazz will present a SpaceStation announcement in its Vivint Smart Home Arena on Friday during Game 6 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Vivint Smart Home Arena also hosted the GameTyrant Expo in September, an event that featured competitions in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Street Fighter V, Hearthstone and more.

The Jazz previously explored esports investment opportunities, such as applying to the League of Legends Championship Series with eUnited in July, with Salt Lake City-based venture capital firm Sorenson Capital, sources familiar with those discussions told ESPN. The Jazz ultimately decided against those opportunities.

SpaceStation Gaming was founded in June, when McBride and other influencers he works with acquired a Smite team. Previously, SpaceStation had been a YouTube channel that hosted multiple video game videos from McBride and other YouTubers.

"We weren't just looking for someone to bring a bunch of money to the table," McBride told ESPN. "We have a lot of traction with sponsors and opportunities, and SpaceStation has the capability to grow financially, so we weren't looking necessarily for financial backing. Both of us looked at this partnership as an opportunity to learn from the other person, provide value to the other person and just over-deliver. There's already been so many sponsor connections that we've shared back-and-forth -- event, engagement and exposure opportunities, too. It's just built off of how we can work together to build bigger."

With the partnership, the Jazz are the 14th NBA franchise or franchise ownership group, to be involved in esports outside of the NBA 2K League. In a trend that began in early 2015, owners from the Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and others have bought into the esports industry, which is expected to hit $1 billion in global revenue in the next three years, according to Newzoo, a market analysis firm focused on video games and esports.

"The NBA does a fantastic job at reaching out to communities and getting people interested early on in their game, their players and their brand," Vander Linden said. "They do a really good job of that. They're continuing to grow their interests worldwide. I think what you have is this natural tie between the traditional sport of basketball with gaming, especially with the players now who are coming into the league in the last three or four years. They travel with consoles and laptops, and they play different games, and they connect with some of their fans through those platforms."