NBA players are some of the most renowned and well-known people around the world.
They have huge fanbases and plenty of haters, and the way they can get the masses to get into a product is one of the many reasons why they make so much money in endorsements.
Then again, even among all the great athletes in the league, LeBron James stands out the most, becoming the first NBA player to reach 100 million followers on Instagram, which is most than the MLB, NFL, MLS, WNBA, and NHL combined.
More than that, James also sits at the top of the table when it comes to the NBA players who gained the most followers in 2021, going from 74,632,713 to 100,009,463 for a 25% increase over the past 10 months, according to a report by Basketball News:
(Transcript via Basketball News)
– This year, LeBron James’ account has grown the most based on followers added (25,376,750) and percentage increase (25%) — even though he was already the most-followed NBA player by a wide margin. James started the year with 74,632,713 followers and now he’s at 100,009,463. LeBron has the 31st-largest IG following; he’s ahead of celebrities such as Drake, Billie Eilish and Chris Brown. James has more followers than the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and MLS combined (as noted by FOS).
– Stephen Curry has the second-largest account among NBA players with 36,731,331 followers. (That is 63,278,132 fewer than James). Since Jan. 1, 2021, Curry has added the second-most followers (4,104,774), which is a 13% increase.
– Giannis Antetokounmpo gained the third-most followers (2,039,709) and saw the second-largest percentage increase (23%), which is a nice boost after winning his first NBA championship.
– Several players who gained a lot of followers experienced a change of scenery over the last year, which likely isn’t a coincidence. When Russell Westbrook joined the Los Angeles Lakers, he absolutely gained a ton of new followers. Westbrook (+2,000,831), LaMelo Ball (+1,030,957), Chris Paul (+630,340) and James Harden (+501,406) all cracked the top-15 after joining a new team.
Rounding up the report, we find that Klay Thompson had the 5th largest follower increase at 1,564,736 (19%), followed by Kyrie Irving’s 1,047,997 (7%).
Clearly, all of those players are still far behind LeBron James in terms of presence on social media, and it seems unlikely that any of them will catch him any time soon.
You can love or hate James but even his haters are always trying to keep tabs on what he’s up to. That’s why he’s the social media King in the best league in the world.
