The Most Loved and Most Hated NBA Players, According to Fans
The Most Loved and Most Hated NBA Players, According to Fans
NBA fans rarely stay neutral for long.
To understand which players drive the strongest reactions, Rotogrinders analyzed Reddit discussions across the main NBA subreddit and team communities, tracking how often players are mentioned and whether that conversation skews positive or negative.
The result is a league-wide ranking of the NBA’s most loved and most hated players. Importantly, love and hate are measured separately, meaning the same player can rank highly in both.
How the rankings work: Players are ranked from No. 1 downward by Love Score and Hate Score. Scores are normalized on a 0–10 scale, where 10.0 represents the strongest positive or negative fan reaction observed in the dataset.
Luka Dončić stands out as the clearest example of modern NBA fan polarization. He ranks No. 2 for love, No. 1 for hate, and No. 1 overall for polarization, showing how attention and scrutiny often rise together in today’s NBA discourse.
Key Findings
- Giannis Antetokounmpo is the NBA’s most loved player. (No. 1, Love Score: 10.0)
- Luka Dončić is the NBA’s most hated player. (No. 1, Hate Score: 10.0)
- Luka Dončić is the NBA’s most polarizing player. (No. 2 for love, No. 1 for hate)
- Superstars dominate both lists. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Nikola Jokić all rank highly for both love and hate.
- Draymond Green ranks among the league’s most criticized players.
- Victor Wembanyama is already one of the NBA’s five most loved players.
- Attention drives sentiment more than agreement.
Bottom line: In the NBA, visibility creates emotion. The league’s most discussed players are rarely loved without criticism or criticized without support.
The Most Loved NBA Players
These players generate the strongest positive fan sentiment across Reddit, weighted by how often they are discussed. Higher Love Scores reflect sustained approval rather than isolated praise.
Top 10 Most Loved NBA Players
- Giannis Antetokounmpo — 10.00
- Luka Dončić — 9.87
- LeBron James — 9.85
- Stephen Curry — 9.77
- Victor Wembanyama — 9.30
- Kevin Durant — 9.09
- Jayson Tatum — 9.08
- Trae Young — 9.07
- Kyrie Irving — 9.07
- Nikola Jokić — 9.02
What stands out
- Giannis leads a crowded elite tier. Antetokounmpo finishes first in positive sentiment, ahead of a group that includes MVPs, champions, and some of the most recognizable stars in the sport.
- The top 10 is packed with global superstars. Dončić, LeBron, Curry, and Durant all rank near the top, suggesting that sustained praise can hold even under massive discussion volume.
- New-era stars are already fan favorites. Victor Wembanyama’s top-five placement shows how quickly admiration can build around emerging talent.
- Popularity does not shield players from criticism. Many of the league’s most loved players also appear on the hate list, reinforcing that visibility brings both support and scrutiny.
The Most Hated NBA Players
These players generate the strongest negative fan sentiment across Reddit, weighted by how often they are discussed. Higher Hate Scores reflect sustained criticism rather than one-off backlash.
Top 10 Most Hated NBA Players
- Luka Dončić — 10.00
- Draymond Green — 9.94
- Joel Embiid — 9.43
- Nikola Jokić — 9.22
- Ja Morant — 9.09
- Karl-Anthony Towns — 8.92
- Kevin Durant — 8.70
- LeBron James — 8.58
- Jimmy Butler — 8.56
- Trae Young — 8.53
What stands out
- Dončić leads the league in criticism. Luka ranks No. 1 by a clear margin, reflecting how consistently negative sentiment appears in conversations about him.
- The hate list is full of star power. Embiid, Jokić, Durant, and LeBron all rank highly, showing that criticism scales with relevance, not obscurity.
- Debate-heavy players climb quickly. Draymond Green’s No. 2 ranking reflects how strong opinions accumulate around players with distinct reputations and playing styles.
- This is also a visibility ranking. The most criticized players are often among the most discussed, reinforcing that negative sentiment is frequently a byproduct of attention.
The NBA’s Most Polarizing Players
Some players rank highly on both lists, drawing strong support and sharp criticism at the same time. These are the players fans argue about most.
Players Who Rank Highly for Both Love and Hate
1. Luka Dončić
Luka represents the clearest case of NBA polarization in the dataset.
- Love Rank: No. 2
- Hate Rank: No. 1
- Polarizing Rank: No. 1
He is one of the most admired players in the league and, at the same time, the single most criticized.
2. LeBron James
LeBron remains one of the most debated figures in basketball, even deep into his career.
- Love Rank: No. 3
- Hate Rank: No. 8
- Polarizing Rank: No. 2
His visibility keeps both praise and pushback consistently high.
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis leads the league in positive sentiment while still attracting enough criticism to rank just outside the top 10 for hate.
- Love Rank: No. 1
- Hate Rank: No. 11
- Polarizing Rank: No. 3
That combination shows how even widely admired stars are not immune from scrutiny.
4. Nikola Jokić
Jokić’s profile shows that even low-drama superstars can become polarizing once the volume of discussion grows large enough.
- Love Rank: No. 10
- Hate Rank: No. 4
- Polarizing Rank: No. 4
He generates both deep respect and strong disagreement among fans.
5. Joel Embiid
Embiid reflects one of the sharpest divides in NBA discourse.
- Love Rank: No. 13
- Hate Rank: No. 3
- Polarizing Rank: No. 5
He is widely respected, but just as widely debated.
Other notable polarizing players
- Stephen Curry — Love Rank No. 4, Hate Rank No. 12, Polarizing Rank No. 6
- Draymond Green — Love Rank No. 24, Hate Rank No. 2, Polarizing Rank No. 7
- Kevin Durant — Love Rank No. 6, Hate Rank No. 7, Polarizing Rank No. 8
- Trae Young — Love Rank No. 8, Hate Rank No. 10, Polarizing Rank No. 9
- Ja Morant — Love Rank No. 16, Hate Rank No. 5, Polarizing Rank No. 10
What the Data Says About NBA Attention
A Rotogrinders analyst reviewed the findings and identified a clear pattern.
“The NBA’s biggest stars aren’t just popular — they’re constantly judged,” the analyst said. “The players at the top of these rankings attract massive attention, and that attention creates both approval and criticism. Luka is the clearest example, but the broader pattern holds across the league.”
“The most polarizing players are usually the most visible ones. In that sense, fan sentiment is less about consensus and more about exposure.”
That same mix of volatility, risk, and reward helps explain why competitive sports communities stay so engaged in adjacent spaces too, whether they are tracking player trends, debating value, or comparing betting offers tied to promos like the underdog promo code and the thescore bet promo code.
Attention — Not Agreement — Defines NBA Sentiment
NBA fan sentiment is not driven by agreement. It is driven by attention.
The players who dominate conversation are not simply the most liked or the most criticized. More often, they are both. The same visibility that builds support also creates friction, especially in a league where individual stars carry so much of the spotlight.
Giannis leads through approval. Luka leads through criticism. And the overlap between the two helps explain why polarization has become such a strong through-line in modern NBA conversation.
Love and hate, as measured here, are not opposites. They are parallel reactions to relevance.
How the NBA Fan Sentiment Index Was Calculated
Rotogrinders analyzed Reddit discussions to measure how fans talk about NBA players, both positively and negatively.
Player pool: Active NBA rosters were compiled using Basketball-Reference.
Data source: Comments were collected from the main NBA subreddit and team-specific subreddits.
Matching: Player mentions were tracked using full-name matching, with nickname handling for selected high-profile players.
Sentiment analysis: Each comment was classified as positive, negative, or neutral using VADER sentiment analysis.
Threshold: A minimum mention threshold was applied to reduce noise from small sample sizes.
Two sentiment indexes were calculated:
- Love Score: (Positive Mentions / Total Mentions) × ln(Total Mentions)
- Hate Score: (Negative Mentions / Total Mentions) × ln(Total Mentions)
A Polarizing Score was also calculated by combining both measures to identify players who rank highly in both positive and negative sentiment.
All scores were normalized to a 0–10 scale for readability and comparison, where 10.0 represents the strongest reaction observed in the dataset.
Sources
- Reddit: NBA and team-specific subreddits
- Basketball-Reference: active player rosters
- VADER Sentiment Analysis
- Access the full dataset here