Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Earlier this season, LeBron James came under fire from Memphis Grizzlies fans after he trashed the city while appearing on an episode of the Bob Does Sports YouTube show.
“I’m f——41 years of age. You think I want to do s— being in Memphis on a random a– Thursday? I’m not the first guy in the NBA to talk about this,” James said.
“We all like, ‘You guys have to move.’ Just go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there, you got f—— NASCAR, you got a stadium. Don’t they got a hockey team too? Like, they’ve got everything.”
That led to video clips surfacing of other NBA stars dissing the city, and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith even chimed in.
“It’s a great sports town, great fans, great people,” Smith said. “But there’s an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don’t feel it’s the safest environment. You’ve got to clean some of that stuff up because it’s dissuasive to NBA players.”
Now we have an even larger sample size showing that Memphis is the most-disliked city in the league by NBA players.
Anonymous Poll Shows That NBA Players Really Dislike Going To Memphis
On Monday morning, The Athletic released the results of its annual player poll, which asked everything from where Giannis Antetokounmpo will play next to which fans are the most obnoxious.
One question, however, stood out in light of James’ comments on Memphis.
“What’s the first team on your no-trade list?” the question asked. Not only did the Grizzlies top the list, but they did so in resounding fashion.
Among 120 players polled, 35.8 percent answered Memphis. The next closest city, Washington, received just 11.7 percent of the vote, followed by Sacramento at 10.8.
And to be clear, the players took no issue with the organization; it was all with the city.
“I’ll play anywhere, honestly,” one player explained. “But I would have to say Memphis is a place I don’t want to live. So that would be the reason why I wouldn’t want to play there.”
“It has nothing to do with the team. It’s the location of the team,” another stated.
Sorry Memphis fans and residents, but NBA players have made it loud and clear that they want nothing to do with your city.