Study Concludes LeBron James is Overwhelmingly the Most Hated Player in the NBA

Brandon ContesJun 8th, 2021, 4:04 pm
 

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

LeBron James is polarizing on and off the court. Like many historically great athletes, there’s not much middle ground for the NBA superstar, you either love him or hate him.

According to a recent social media study conducted by SportsInsider.com, LeBron is the most hated person in the NBA. The research used geotagged Twitter data from the last month, tracking negative mentions of NBA players such as, “I hate LeBron.” Over 70,000 tweets and hashtags were tracked, and the findings stated LeBron was the NBA’s most hated player in 24 different states.

Six different players made the list, with Kyrie Irving being dubbed the most hated player in 18 states. James Harden, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Paul George all squeaked onto the list, but failed to approach the hate status garnered by Kyrie or LeBron.

True LeBron detractors will try use the study as fuel to criticize the 36-year-old NBA icon. But the results shouldn’t be that surprising. If a player consistently beats every team in the NBA for nearly two decades, they’re going to make a lot of enemies with varying fan bases.

LeBron transcends basketball, meaning he’s more than likely the most tweeted about NBA player, regardless of love or hate. Even non-basketball fans around the world know who he is and the headlines he makes. But among NBA fans, there’s still evidence that LeBron is the league’s most popular player, despite Twitter hate.

After the first half of the 2021 basketball season came to a close, the NBA announced LeBron jersey led the league in sales. That’s right, after watching him for 18 years, NBA fans aren’t feeling LeBron fatigue, they’re still buying his jersey at a higher rate than every other player in the league.

Not only does the league rely on LeBron for jersey sales, but they depend on the veteran for TV ratings too. Prior to getting ousted from the playoffs last week, LeBron’s Lakers were featured in three of the NBA’s most-watched national games, and six of their top 10 during the 2020-21 season. Maybe fans just love to hate LeBron James.

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