Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James didn’t end the season in the way that he hoped or anticipated after losing the first round of the playoffs after taking the title last season. You’d think he could rest while absorbing the bruises of a season that didn’t end with a championship. Well, he may have to wait for a little longer to get that much-needed rest!
According to data acquired from Sportsinsider.com, as seen on The Score, King James holds the distinction of being the ‘Most Hated Player’ in the NBA. A map was posted on Twitter that
used geotagged data from the social media platform from the last month, showing that James is the most hated NBA player in a whopping 24 states and gained the title of the most “hated” player overall. James, being hated in 18 states, was his former teammate and Brooklyn Nets guard, Kyrie Irving.The map is based on more than 70,000 tweets, including hashtags and direct keyword phrases that mentioned the hate and dislike for the NBA players in each listed state.
Amazingly, after James, the next three most hated athletes are Brooklyn Nets players, Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant. Washington Wizards’ Russell Westbrook and Los Angeles Clippers’ Paul George round out the list.
This past year hasn’t been an ideal one for King James. In early May, the basketball player made
headlines after he tweeted out a photo of the officer who fatally shot Ma’Khia Bryant and said YOU’RE NEXT #Accountability,” WKYC reports. The tweet came after James tweeted the word “ACCOUNTABILITY” in response to Derek Chauvin being found guilty of killing George Floyd. After leaving the tweets up for a few hours, James deleted the tweet and claimed it was being used to spread more hate.James later returned to Twitter and admitted to sending out a poorly worded tweet after Bryant’s death. “I fueled the wrong conversation about Ma’Khia Bryant, and I owe it to her and this movement to change it,” the four-time NBA MVP wrote.
In late April, one of the most popular and best players to play in the NBA didn’t list James on his first all-time team. to make matters worse, he didn’t even place James on his second all-time team of players.
Philadelphia 76ers legend Julius Erving, who played in the air before Michael Jordan figured out he can fly, had his reasons for not picking James.
“When you look at LeBron and anybody he sort of picks with him … he played with so many guys. He’s the guy who has led the charge in terms of superteams being put together.”
“When he put together the team in Miami, he put together that team in Cleveland as well and put together a team in Los Angeles,” Erving continued. “So he can pick his own team, I’m not going to pick his team. I’m not saying nothing bad about LeBron.”