Lebron James is one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the sport, having conquered almost every title. Becoming the name standing on the same table in the debate about who is the greatest player of all time with Michael Jordan has also helped fans understand how successful the Los Angeles Lakers player is in his career. However, success always comes with jealousy from many people.
Sports Insider news agency recently (June 8, US time) released a map of the most hated players by state in the US. By using algorithms to analyze tweets, hashtags or statuses with phrases that demean an NBA player such as “I hate player A”, “Player B is so bad”,… After Analyzing a sample of more than 70,000 tweets, hashtags and statuses as mentioned above, Sports Insider came to its final conclusion.
According to analysis results, Lebron James is “honored” to receive the title of most hated player in America with 24 states showing extreme hostility to the Ohio-born player. Players on the Los Angeles Lakers payroll are hated from the West Coast to the East Coast. It’s very funny that a state at the northernmost point adjacent to the North Pole with a population of only 731,545 people like Alaska also shows dislike for LeBron James.
The fact that LeBron James is hated throughout America is actually not too difficult to understand and can be explained clearly. There are two big reasons why a player is disliked by fans, one is this person’s performance against the team representing their state and the second comes from the player’s personal life.
According to the first aspect, it is clear that after 18 years of fighting in the NBA, LeBron James has unintentionally and unintentionally brought sadness to many teams. The states that represent this are New York (New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets), Michigan (Milwaukee Bucks), Indiana (Indiana Pacers).
These are all pairs of balls that the superstar born in 1984 tortured year after year in the days before joining the Los Angeles Lakers. This obsession has caused many players to even leave the East just to escape the huge shadow of “King James” like Paul George.
The second aspect is private life, this is a quite sensitive issue but can also be explained logically. NBA fans at this point all know that LeBron James is a very hard-working player who participates in social and political activities.
He brings a strong voice to represent the African American community. However, sometimes “King James”‘s statements on social networks are quite lacking in thought, causing him to receive criticism from public opinion. So if you notice that the anti-LeBron Western states all have a majority of middle-class white populations such as Oregon, Utah, Nebraska,…
Behind LeBron James in this infamous ranking is none other than his younger brother Kyrie Irving. In the state of Masachusetts, where the Boston Celtics are stationed, they are extremely hostile to this ball-holding player. The next names on the list include James Harden, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Paul George. The players on this list are all the top names in the tournament at the moment. Perhaps that is the price for success?
