REPORT: Ranking the Most Popular NBA Teams

A new report reveals which NBA team receives the most social media buzz online.

The most popular NBA team on Twitter, the Los Angeles Lakers, rank number one on the list with 5,870,777 posts.

The reigning champs, the Milwaukee Bucks, place third after gaining a massive social media buzz following their win to the Phoenix Suns and being crowned champions for the first time in 50 years.

The NBA is BACK! With pre-season well underway, millions of NBA fans across the US will be tuning in and voicing their opinions online for the upcoming season.

With discussions and debates about this year’s results already flooding social media, have you ever wondered which NBA team actually creates the greatest online buzz?

With the utilization of social listening data, a new report from Bookies.com has revealed which NBA teams have generated the most interest online over the last year. By analyzing social media posts using specific keywords, the report highlighted which NBA team was the most popular, what demographics were most common, and also which social media platform dominated the conversations.

The NBA Teams with The Greatest Online Buzz

The LA Lakers are the most followed NBA team on Twitter with a staggering 10.1 million followers, so it’s no surprise that they create the biggest buzz online. With 5,870,777 posts over the past 12 months, the Lakers Nation is everywhere – scoring more than a million more than the Golden State Warriors, who ranked second with 4,311,312 posts. The reigning champs, the Milwaukee Bucks, followed third after gaining a massive social media buzz after their win to the Phoenix Suns.

The Portland Trail Blazers and the Minnesota Timberwolves sit bottom of the list with only 169,012 and 150,325 mentions, respectively, over the last 12 months – around 40x less than the Lakers.

The younger male demographic (18-24) are NBA’s most vocal online, ranking top for 23 of the teams. Surprisingly, followers aged 55-64 ranked five times in the most popular demographic category for teams such as the Phoenix Suns, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Washington Wizards.

The full list can be seen in the table below:

Rank	Team	No. of Posts	Top Demographic
1	Los Angeles Lakers	5,870,777	18-24 23.5%
2	Golden State Warriors	4,311,312	18-24 18.6%
3	Milwaukee Bucks	2,277,468	18-24 20.3%
4	Los Angeles Clippers	1,632,404	18-24 23.1%
5	Boston Celtics	1,531,325	18-24 22.4%
6	Philadelphia 76ers	1,027,217	18-24 21.3%
7	Charlotte Hornets	877,340	18-24 23.8%
8	Toronto Raptors	793,212	18-24 22%
9	Miami Heat	792,935	18-24 21.8%
10	Cleveland Cavaliers	780,513	18-24 22.6%
11	Brooklyn Nets	778,610	18-24 22%
12	New York Knicks	774,172	25-34 21.7%
13	Dallas Mavericks	662,484	18-24 22.2%
14	Chicago Bulls	556,928	18-24 21.8%
15	Memphis Grizzlies	509,178	18-24 23.7%
16	Phoenix Suns	498,683	55-64 25.2%
17	San Antonio Spurs	489,316	55-64 23%
18	Indiana Pacers	480,022	18-24 22.8%
19	Houston Rockets	449,497	18-24 22.6%
20	Orlando Magic	416,113	55-64 16.1%
21	Utah Jazz	330,901	18-24 22.5%
22	Atlanta Hawks	324,314	55-64 21.6%
23	Detroit Pistons	283,697	18-24 21.7%
24	Denver Nuggets	247,077	18-24 21.4%
25	New Orleans Pelicans	236,806	18-24 21.5%
26	Sacramento Kings	233,397	18-24 21.4%
27	Washington Wizards	221,261	55-64 21.7%
28	Oklahoma City Thunder	177,637	18-24 23.2%
29	Portland Trail Blazers	169,012	18-24 21.8%
30	Minnesota Timberwolves	150,325	25-34 20.7%

Full information can be found on-site, here.

Methodology

To collect the data, social listening was utilized and acquired through Linkfluence between September 2020 – September 2021.

To determine the order of the list, the percentage of posts online, demographic, and social media % was collected and put in an order with the highest percentage at the top.