W
hile Elijah “Choppa” Moore mulled over how he’d finish his left arm tattoo sleeve, one made perfect sense to pair with his marksman-like shooting ability — a bullseye on his elbow.
Days later, training with high school teammate and current University of North Carolina guard Ian Jackson, Moore’s elbow was sore from the recent tattoo, forcing him to shoot solely with his right arm. After sinking a jump shot, Moore pointed the bullseye to the sky, showcasing the tattoo. From there, the gesture stuck.
“That’s his trademark. That’s him,” Jackson said. “It gave him his own identity that everybody knows. You see that celebration, that is Choppa.”
Whether it’s Carmelo Anthony’s ‘3’s to the Dome,’ Stephen Curry’s ‘Night, night’ or Trae Young’s ‘Ice Trae,’ signature celebrations are synonymous with elite shooters. Moore’s elbow is no different. An elite shooter and 247 Sports’ No. 58 player in the Class of 2024, Moore has recently gained popularity through his signature celebration.
Playing with Jelly Fam (Our Savior Lutheran) of Overtime Elite in his senior season and Cam Wilder’s Rod Wave Elite this summer, Moore has amassed over 143k followers on Instagram before playing any college basketball. Along the way, his elbow point has exploded, giving him increased notoriety entering his freshman season at Syracuse.
“A big part of my game is my ability to shoot,” Moore said. “Having the elbow tattoo just goes hand in hand with it.”
Moore first broke out the elbow embellishment in Our Savior Lutheran’s first preseason scrimmage versus Archbishop Wood. OSL teammate and current Mississippi State guard Dellquan Warren recalls his teammates anticipating the celebration. Spartans head coach Pete Wehye wasn’t yet informed of Moore’s antics, though. His first glimpse came against the Vikings.
After knocking down his first 3, Moore signaled his elbow outward. Wehye was confused, unsure why Moore wasn’t getting back on defense. The next possession, Moore drew nylon again and repeated the motion. Wehye proceed to yell at Moore, still muddled by his actions. Following a steal, he got it to go again, this time motioning the celebration toward OSL’s bench.
The bench followed with the action, all pointing their elbows up. Wehye went to his players, and they explained the celebration. A few plays later, Moore came downhill on a two-on-one with Jackson running by his side. Rather than dishing it off, Moore released from deep, hitting the shot and sending the gymnasium into a frenzy, including Wehye.
“He has a unique skill,” Wehye said. “The level of frequency it goes in is what makes the celebration popular.”
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That skillset was always a part of Moore’s game. He just continued to perfect it.
His shooting was first on display at 5 years old, when his father, Ty Moore, would host hundreds of people in New York City basketball tournaments. At halftime, Ty brought his son onto the court to run him through shooting drills. It wasn’t to show off, Ty said, but to take advantage of every opportunity to give him a workout.
Years later, as an eighth-grader during the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore would travel from the Bronx to Connecticut to train and even did workouts over Zoom. He further developed his game at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, a staple of the New York State Catholic League. After three successful seasons with the Cardinals and a commitment to Syracuse in January 2022, Moore decided to play his last prep season for Our Savior Lutheran and its OTE affiliate, Jelly Fam.
“I always love and will forever love Cardinal Hayes for the things that they’ve taught me and the moments that I’ve had there,” Moore said. “But OTE, the arena and the environment was just different.”
Per Ty, the decision was simple for both him and Moore: Where could he go to best prepare for the future?
Moore was already familiar with OSL, attending it in middle school. But the most intriguing point of joining the squad was its newly founded team in OTE. The league is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is comprised of 16-to-20-year-old athletes split across eight teams. Operated by media giant Overtime, most teams are filled with future first-round NBA talent. Players like Alex Sarr, Rob Dillingham and twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson have participated since its inaugural 2021 season.
Moore’s team, Jelly Fam, was added for the 2023-24 season. Along with Jackson, he helped turn the team into one of the most popular in year 1, according to Overtime Chief Growth Officer Tom Weingarten.
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Because of the affiliation with Overtime, players are constantly enthralled in social media-based activities. Weingarten said all of the media team’s posts featured either Moore or Jackson because of their immense popularity.
The media attention was fairly new for Moore, but he said it came naturally. Whenever the media team wanted to put a microphone on him for a game, film a TikTok or shoot a podcast, Moore obliged. While described as mild-mannered and mellow by Jackson, when the camera comes on, Moore shines brightest. And the elbow celebration was a key piece of the team’s, and his own, online growth.
“In the new age of basketball, to have something that is new and original is really hard,” Weingarten said. “For Choppa to have something that we haven’t seen before in basketball, I think it identified him as a star.”
The stardom continued into the summer as Moore participated in Wilder’s AAU program, Rod Wave Elite. Wilder, a YouTuber with over one million subscribers, brings top talent from across the country together for loose yet fierce competition. While the games were flooded with five-star recruits and high flyers, Moore’s 3-point shooting took center stage.
And there, his signal turned into a phenomenon. With millions of viewers online and hundreds in the stands, Moore’s gesture became a movement. Teammates and opponents constantly used it. Fans even drew bullseyes on their elbows to emulate Moore.
“Hitting a 3 may not be as exciting as a dunk, but Elijah’s 3 and his elbow became just as exciting, or even more exciting,” Ty said.
Moore said while preparing his body for the upcoming season, his time with RWE was a “breath of fresh air.” He traveled the country to play at their showcases, growing his brand in the process.
Ty said the newfound fame hasn’t changed his son. Moore is still the same humble, mature kid from the Bronx. Now, the platform allows him to extend his reach in his city and beyond.
Daman Brown, Moore’s youth coach for New York Lightning, said he recently saw kids in California on the AAU circuit do Moore’s iconic move. Ty said Moore has received hundreds of direct messages on Instagram from people around the world doing it.
“They’re listening to someone who they consider a star,” Ty said. “And so it allows him to have a platform where now when he’s talking to young kids, they listen.”
While Moore is at times a silent assassin, his new SU teammates have grown a liking to him off the court because of his personality. Junior guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. said Moore is “goofy” off the court and not nearly as serious as he looks on it. Colorado transfer Eddie Lampkin Jr. has built a bond with Moore through social media, co-hosting the “DA BIGGEST CHOPP UP” podcast with him.
Lampkin said while thinking of starting a podcast, Moore was the perfect fit due to his social persona and fan influence already.
Moore’s individuality is on full display now. But it wasn’t always like that. Playing alongside Jackson — the No. 8 player in the 2024 class — put him in the background at times. Brian Harrington, Moore and Jackson’s performance coach since 10th grade, said the two have always been viewed as a one-two combo. The elbow gives Moore that separation.
“It’s something that was necessary for (Moore),” Harrington said. “He needed some sort of thing to differentiate himself from any teammate.”
The celebration has grown into a mind of its own. To Wehye, it can mean anything from flexing your own skill to trash-talking an opponent. Wehye even remembered a time when an opponent hit a 3 and directed the gesture at Moore. But that’s what it has become.
The idea started with Jackson gave Moore an immense personality on the court. It’s turned him into a national brand. And as Moore embarks on his first go with the Orange, the elbow is a stamp of what he brings to the table.
“He started to own it, and he started to be comfortable with, ‘I am that shooter. I’m OK with being that guy who can knock down that shot and hit that 3. And that’s my identity as a basketball player,’” Wehye said of Moore.
“I think once he owned it, he started to create an identity from it. And the celebration is a part of that.”
Photograph Courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on October 24, 2024 at 1:35 am
Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky
