When the NBA season was announced to take place at Disney World in 2020, notable player and Disney fan Robin Lopez made a Twitter thread replacing current NBA mascots with Disney characters. I was immediately inspired. I ended up illustrating 22 NBA team/Disney character mashups featuring every team featured in the 2020 NBA Bubble. It was a great way to merge my passion for sports mascots and Disney together.
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Programs: Illustrator, Photoshop
The full set of 22 teams from the 2020 NBA season held at the Walt Disney World resort
PHASE ONE
My NBA illustrations have been grouped into batches of 8. The first group was posted before games resumed in July and included Disney characters representing teams such as the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks.
Art of Mickey Mouse (Sorcerer's Apprentice) representing the Washington Wizards
Simba from The Lion King as the mascot for the Sacramento Kings
Anger from Inside Out accurately representing the Miami Heat
Elliot (Pete's Dragon) supporting the Orlando Magic
Sam Eagle (The Muppets) and Amos Mouse (Ben And Me) supporting the Philadelphia 76ers
Big Al (The Country Bears) representing the Utah Jazz
Bambi representing the Milwaukee Bucks
Baloo (The Jungle Book) as the mascot for the Memphis Grizzlies
PHASE TWO
This next batch was finished during the 2020 NBA Playoffs and includes characters representing the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets.
An illustration of Stitch representing the Houston Rockets (with the Tomorrowland Moonliner in the background)
Bent-Tail, a character in Pluto shorts, replacing the San Antonio Spurs' Coyote mascot
Bullseye from Toy Story supporting the Dallas Mavericks
Goofy representing the Brooklyn Nets as Sir Cumference from the short A Knight For A Day
Donald Duck dressed up as Chuck The Condor, the mascot of the Los Angeles Clippers
Grumpy (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) as the mascot of the Denver Nuggets
Terk (Tarzan) in the place of the Phoenix Suns Gorilla mascot
Zeus (Hercules) representing the Oklahoma City Thunder
PHASE THREE
My last group from the 22-team restart was completed right at the beginning of the 2020-2021 NBA season.
Art of Louis from The Princess and the Frog representing the Utah Jazz
Nessie from the short The Ballad of Nessie cheering on the Los Angeles Lakers
Herbie supporting the Indiana Pacers
The Little Man of Disneyland, an original park character, representing the Boston Celtics
Monte of the short The Pelican and the Snipe representing the New Orleans Pelicans
Rex from Toy Story supporting the Toronto Raptors
Tigger as Davy Crockett serving as the mascot for the Portland Trailblazers
PROCESS PHOTOS
Original artwork of Big Al
Original sketch of Bambi
Vector lineart of Simba
