In 2017-2018 season NBA teams are able to show sponsor advertisements on game jerseys.
At this century, sport and advertising became an inseparable couple. One part of people think that sponsorship and advertising are a key to success, but the rest of them think that it's non-beneficial for companies.
To start with, athletes or sport teams are quite known in societies, so investing into sponsorship of them can attract fan base buy company products or services. For example, car brand 'Škoda' often supports ice hockey teams, however, it's also the official main sponsor of IIHF championships . During research the company found that it's beneficial to show their name in the ice rinks. Advertising in a sport can bring more clients and increase company income.
On the other hand, sponsorship in sports can often be non-beneficial. The risk is that marketing income depends on a form of an athlete or team. If the season is unsuccessful for them, companies won't get returns, because revenue from ticket sales, media will be low. For example, the Lithuanian Football Federation recently lost two main sponsors due to poor performance of national teams and scandals in the federation. Sponsorship has a risk of being non-beneficial, because of sports misfortunes.
To sum up, there are pros and cons of sports marketing. It can be beneficial if attendance, popularity and success of the sport is great. Otherwise, the low performance of it won't bring incomes and company will incur losses. I reckon that sponsors should count the risk of the investment.