It takes a lot to pack out a basketball court on a Wednesday night.
But on February 8, Cam Wilder did exactly that, rocking up to Sydenham basketball courts in Sydney and shutting them down, as part of a three-event court takeover in Australia.
For Wilder, an international trip to play basketball seemed more like a pipe dream only a few years ago, but a lot has happened between then and now for a 22-year-old from Arizona.
“In 2019, I was playing college basketball in Nebraska, and this is like, I think the winter right before COVID started hitting and TikTok was a thing,” Wilder told Sporting News.
“But I didn't know too much about TikTok, and my roommates were like, ‘Yo, you should start doing TikTok, you're kind of funny,’ and I only knew TikTok is like a kid's app, I didn't know too much about TikTok."
It didn’t take long for Wilder to find out though.
His TikTok rise was rapid; his third-ever video hit one million views, and it took him only eight months to gain 100,000 followers - a mark that now sits at over 4.5 million.
But despite being a college basketball player, and now being one of the world’s most famous basketball creators, Wilder’s initial content had nothing to do with basketball, rather they were comedy sketches.
“I didn't start showing people that I played basketball until I hit about three million followers on TikTok because I feel like if you want a support base and you want a fan base, you got to show them your personality,” he said.
“No one really knew I played basketball until probably like 2021 summer… I did like a 1v1 against someone named Gio Wise on TikTok and that really blew up because we had a little beef going on on TikTok. That's when I got my basketball stuff started."
@camwilder i jus be out there havin fun 🤣🔥 #fyp #basketball #viral ♬ original sound - Cam Wilder
He had the following and the content, but the next step was to turn this into a career. To do this, he had to drop out of college, a prospect that wasn’t the easiest to sell to his parents.
“That took a lot of convincing - my dad was in the military, so all he was thinking about was like, you're going to get that education; education first. My whole entire life, everything was education first. It didn't matter if I played football, basketball, I had to get that degree,” Wilder said.
“Once I started TikTok, I kind of wanted to leave college when I had two [million followers], but they still weren't really convinced. They were like, okay, you're doing something, but we really want you to get that degree.
“It took a good probably six months of convincing to allow them to let me leave college, but I'm glad they did.”
His parents were one thing, but deep down, Wilder still had to convince himself that what he was doing would last.
The paychecks he was getting were convincing in their own right, but according to Wilder, the moment he truly knew that he had something special was during a family trip to Disney World.
Wilder started making his videos in Arizona, yet here in Florida, he was being recognised by hundreds of fans.
“I went to Disney World for Christmas with my family, and this is when I had around, like, I think one and a half million followers on TikTok and there was just so many kids coming up to me, so many people coming up to me,” Wilder said
“My parents, they allowed me to leave school for TikTok because they believed in me, you know what I'm saying? And so this is when I left school, and we went to Disney, and all these people were coming up to me. This is the first time my parents really went in public with me with my following.
“I think that's when I kind of realised I was like, okay, this is going to be big. This is crazy… so I think that's when I really realised that I could probably be big in this industry.”
From there, success seemed to follow Wilder wherever he went.
In 2021, he began doing park takeovers across the USA and even in Toronto, pulling up to play street ball at courts that were surrounded by heaving crowds, all there to watch him put on a show.
He combined these takeovers with booming content channels; he has over 471,000 YouTube subscribers and 325,000 Instagram followers, as well as his previously mentioned TikTok, following.
Wilder’s stock continued to rise, and in 2023 he decided to go truly international, hopping on an 18-hour flight to Australian shores.
Wilder was brought to Australia by Josie Taoi, owner and head coach behind ‘Promote the GOAT’, a basketball program and social media empire.
Taoi recognized the potential that Wilder could have Down Under and orchestrated the trip that saw Wilder hold three park shutdowns, one in Melbourne and two in Sydney.
For Wilder, the Australian crowds lived up to the hype, and there are already plans in place for him to return for an expanded tour next year.
“I knew I had a following out in Australia, but I didn't know it was that strong,” Wilder said.
“But sometimes I forget how many followers I have and sometimes I forget that I do have a strong impact on the youth, and a lot of the youth follow me and a lot of the youth support me.
“I saw that once I saw how many people were showing up to the park. Now, Ponds [Melbourne] was probably my top three biggest park takeovers I've ever had. One was in Toronto - that was probably the biggest one I've ever had, there were literally people standing on buildings watching our game - and then the second one was probably in New York.
“I will most definitely be coming back to Australia and we are already putting together a plan right now, I will be going to six different places instead of just two.”
In the meantime, Wilder has plenty to keep him busy. He currently coaches his own AAU team ‘Rod Wave Elite’, and is playing in the Creator League, a basketball league for creators held by House of Highlights.
He is also eyeing a return to college basketball and admits that being able to play in the NBA eventually is still a dream.
But if this doesn’t eventuate, he is comfortable knowing that he can still earn a living playing basketball, if not in the way he had envisioned.
“All I can say is, if I can do it, you can do it. That's it. I literally did not expect to take this route. It was never my intention to take this route. I never had any intentions on wanting to be a creator, none of that. It just kind of fell in place.”
