Basketball has never sounded so good with Beats by Dre headphones now the official audio supplier for the NBA in a new global partnership.

NBA players have been big fans of Apple owned, and Dr. Dre founded, Beats headphones. Now the National Basketball Association have made it official and signed a multi-year partnership deal with the headphone makers with LeBron James leading the promotions for the new collaboration.

Many players in the NBA have long sported Beats headphones without sponsor and others have worked before with Apple and Beats to promote their headphones, including LeBron James. Now the partnership is official for all players in the league and LeBron has spearheaded their promo advert thanks to his long-running love of the headphone makers, as well as LeBron’s rumoured minority stake in Beats.

NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver said: “Beats revolutionized the music industry and has become one of the most innovative and culturally influential brands in the world. Through our partnership, we have an exciting opportunity to merge sports, pop culture and technology to deliver unparalleled experiences and premium products to our fans.”

Beats will supply the NBA with all of their headphones, wireless speakers and any other audio gear used in the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League, and US National Basketball team. The only real competitor in big audio brand deals in sports is wireless earphones AirPods, which are also owned by Apple but not distributed under their Beats division. It’s safe to say that Apple have athletes under their thumb for all of their music experiences.

Luke Wood, the president of Beats by Dre, said: “The NBA and its players have long been significant drivers of global culture. Basketball, music, and style speak as one voice: Julius Erving became a style icon, Allen Iverson cemented hip hop’s place on and off the court and LeBron James is breaking new music every day… The list goes on and on. This partnership with the NBA is the perfect alignment for Beats. It feels like coming home.”