Twitter Reacts To A Map Showing That The Lakers Are The Most Hated NBA Team In The Country This Year

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world, with the NBA team known for its purple and gold uniforms, star-studded rosters, Hollywood charisma, big money fans and players and, of course, those 16 titles. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way this season, expectations are sky high again for the Lake Show, with everyone expecting a deep run — and possible championship — by the end of the year.

Given the quick turnaround for the team after a dysfunctional season last year during James’ first with the team, there’s a lot of spite aimed towards the Los Angeles Lakers; and it shows on a new map indicating that the team’s the most hated NBA team in the United States.

While the Lakers and Clippers fight for supremacy in the City of Angels — especially since Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joined the Clips over the summer, creating an in-city rivalry — it’s the Lakers who are the bonafide franchise people hate the most. Just take a look at the data below to see which states dislike which NBA teams the most, per The Score.

To gather the data, the site Sportsinsider.com tracked over 100,000 geotagged tweets from basketball fans, looking for phrases such as “I hate the (insert team).” In the end, it was the Los Angeles Lakers that held down the title of most hated, showing up in 34 states. Other NBA teams with a strong showing on the map included the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors — with the latter’s demise (probably) a welcome site for NBA fans after five-straight NBA Finals’ trips.

After seeing the info, social media had reactions, with some questioning the validity of some of the results in certain states around the U.S. — especially since a certain team from Boston didn’t even show up at all. Take a look at what some were saying on Twitter about the data.

https://twitter.com/___UNKNWN___/status/1192498159487991809?s=20

https://twitter.com/CelticsIn2/status/1192664716025516032?s=20

Everyone seems to hate a consistent winner, which is why the Warriors showed up on the map to begin with given their recent run of success. More than that, though, a lot of sports fans hate teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Yankees because they’re always the perceived favorite, and have resources and hype to get the best players — so it’s easy to crap all over them.

(H/T Complex)