Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden have made the Brooklyn Nets a more hated team than LeBron James and his Lakers.
Advertisement
We’ve all heard how USA hates Boston sports fans, and this notion certainly held true for quite a while. The presence of Tom Brady on the New England Patriots and their year-in, year-out contention in the NFL was the major factor.
The Red Sox were also hated a ton, although they didn’t receive the same level of vitriol despite their 2018 World Series win. Celtics fans caught tons of strays regarding their team because of their location – despite not being contenders for a while.
But trends have changed in this 3-year period now. Tom Brady is now out of the Northeast division and with the Tampa Bay Raptors. LeBron James, meanwhile has won a championship while also having moved to Los Angeles.
Both the Lakers and the Dodgers won major championships, bringing joy to the city of Angels as the pandemic wreaked havoc. However, the emergence of a new NBA superteam has caused fans to have a sea change in who they hate.
Kevin Durant and his Brooklyn Nets are more hated than LeBron James and his Lakers
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving signed together with the Brooklyn Nets back in 2019. At the time, this move was expected to rehabilitate KD’s image in the public. He did, after all, receive the most backlash of any NBA superstar in league history for signing with the Warriors.
However, the Nets took 3 weeks in his first season of fitness to trade for James Harden. This move has made the Brooklyn Nets the de facto favorites in the Eastern Conference this year. And the superteam hate that tailed Kevin Durant for 3 years is now back squarely on his tail.
Betonline did a survey in all 50 American states and DC, and their findings reveal that KD hate is well and truly back on the menu. The Nets are now hated more than the Lakers and LeBron James, despite the latter currently being champions.
Twitter map shows Nets are most ‘hated’ NBA team across U.S. 👀 https://t.co/4JCGV6wfH4
(📸: @betonline_ag) pic.twitter.com/GTBkiOrTtZ
— theScore (@theScore) May 1, 2021