NBA fans are not an easy group of people to win over. Because they have been accustomed to watching some of the best players in the world for years, they have a high bar that must be met in order to be impressed. But there are some players who transcend that bar and become popular among a large portion of the NBA community.
Slam Studios and Basketball-Reference recently put out an infographic of the most popular NBA player by each state in the United States of America. Unsurprisingly, LeBron James was the most popular player in many states, thus cementing his status as the face of the NBA.
Stephen Curry was the player closest to LeBron James, with him being the most popular in California, the state in which both he and LeBron play. Michael Jordan and Donovan Mitchell were the only other players to be the most popular players in multiple states.
Other players that were the most popular in at least one state include Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons, Devin Booker, LaMelo Ball, Jaylen Brown, Dennis Schroder, Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, and Pete Maravich. You can check out the full infographic below.
Despite playing in the NBA for almost 2 decades, James is still the most popular player in the league. Clearly, LeBron is still the face of the NBA. In fact, a study conducted after the 2020 NBA Finals shows on a map of the United States, LeBron James is slightly winning the GOAT battle against Michael Jordan.
But it is surprising that he isn’t the most popular player in the state in which he plays, but given that Stephen Curry has been playing for the Warriors his entire career, his popularity in the state being above LeBron’s is understandable.
The fact that Michael Jordan is on this list, despite having been retired for almost 2 decades now is actually incredible. He and Pete Maravich are the only two inactive players on the list, and Jordan is the only inactive player to be the most popular in multiple states.
