According to a recent study of over 100,000 tweets, four-time NBA MVP LeBron James is the most hated payer in the NBA, surpassing 10-time All Star Kevin Durant. And the LeBron/Lakers hate will only grow now that they've landed Anthony Davis, who is the "most hated" superstar in the Louisiana, Arkansas area.
The map above (compiled by sportsinsider.com) is based on geotagged twitter data since the end of the 2018-2019 NBA season. The data looked at tweets that mentioned "hating" or disliking a specific player, which revealed that 'Bron earned "most hated" honors in a total of 25 states. That said, sportsinsider.com notes that LeBron was also the most "loved" player.
Naturally, the New England area has strong feelings about Kyrie Irving, thanks to his impending free agency decision and the way the Boston Celtics' season came to an end.
The breakdown was as follows, in terms of "most hated" NBA stars.
Lebron James - 25 states
Kevin Durant - 17 states
Kyrie Irving - 5 states
Anthony Davis - 2 states
James Harden - 1 state