There are no athletes more popular than NBA stars. They play without a helmet or face mask so we see their raw emotion on the court as they play. There are five players on the court at once for each team which gives a star player the unique ability to truly swing the result of a game. This is unlike in any other sport such as soccer for instance where the amount of players on the field for each team is more than twice that of basketball. They also play offense and defense unlike in football where the quarterback can only impact one side of the ball. NBA stars are so popular there is a large faction of basketball fans that only support a player as opposed to having a favorite team. If the player leaves their current team, the fans of that player continue to cheer for him when he goes to his next franchise as if nothing has changed.
Having fans and supporters means you also have critics and naysayers. Some players are just more beloved than others. At the risk of sounding like George Feeny, it’s important to know that in life no matter what you do you’ll never be able to please everyone that comes your way. This holds true for star NBA players as they will never be liked by 100% of basketball fans. However, if players were interested in increasing their likability, there are certain things that they can do to improve their approval rating with the basketball viewing public. I thought it would be fun to outline how some of the league’s stars can improve their approval rating.
Kevin Durant
There are two ways Durant could shift the opinions of basketball fans who continue to view him as a coward that took the easy way out by joining a 73-9 Golden State team that beat him in the playoffs. The first way is to go back to OKC and win a title. Given that KD is under contract with Brooklyn for two more years, is recovering from a ruptured Achilles, OKC is over the cap, and there are still cupcake posters every time he plays there that scenario doesn’t seem too plausible. The second option was to sign with the Knicks and be the savior of New York basketball. He could have been the player to end the embarrassment that the NBA’s most valuable franchise has become in the 21st century. If Durant had won a title with the Knicks, the negative stigma around his two championships with Golden State would have almost certainly vanished and his approval rating definitely would’ve improved. He had to have known this right? Well clearly he didn’t or it didn’t matter to him because this offseason he decided to sign with the Brooklyn Nets that don’t come anywhere close to the Knicks in terms of importance. Since neither of these two options are in play for Durant, maybe quitting getting into Twitter arguments with random people is his best bet for an approval rating bump.
James Harden
Obviously it’s not up to James Harden if a foul against him or a travel he commits gets called. A good portion of the NBA viewing public hates his constant foul hunting. It’s similar to how Floyd Mayweather would dodge and duck his opponents for 12 rounds while occasionally jabbing them. He was fighting for points not to actually knock someone out. It’s the same thing with Harden’s foul hunting how he’s just looking for untraditional ways to score. Both ways are effective, but they’re painful and frustrating to watch. The travel violations that we aren’t actually sure if they are traveling violations are another thing about Harden people do not like. Whether it’s the Eurostep or the step back, people are annoyed. Since it’s always super entertaining to talk about officiating while discussing basketball, I’ll end that point there. Being officiated differently is what Harden needs to get rid of some of his haters. He could have postseason success, but people are always going to complain about his style of play. That needs to be what he shifts to increase likability. He could also try shaving his beard, but there’s no clue how that will shake out.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis has a unanimous positive approval rating. There are those who pick apart his jump shot from time to time. However, to be fair the shot has gotten better, and it’s not like we’re expecting him to become the second coming of Ray Allen. Giannis is a beloved superstar. He has a great story, is humble, wants to stay in Milwaukee, and hasn’t been a part of any sort of controversy in his now seventh season in the league. But those of us who have been watching the NBA for some time know this honeymoon phase with him is likely not going to last. The backlash eventually comes for everyone. All that needs to happen for the negative Giannis takes to appear is a playoff flameout and/or a switch to a new team.
If Milwaukee wins the championship this year and Giannis signs the supermax extension with them this summer, he might be able to stay beloved. As good as the Bucks have been, it’s tough seeing them win the title given their second best player is Khris Middleton who is certainly not a superstar. They’ll also be relying heavily on Eric Bledsoe in the playoffs which is a scary sentence to type. These last two seasons for the Greek Freak are reminiscent of LeBron’s last two years in Cleveland before he went to Miami where he had great regular seasons but shortcomings in the playoffs mainly because of the supporting cast. All it takes is one loss in the conference semifinals to a weirdly under seeded talented team and the Giannis love will start to fade.
Kyrie Irving
I really wonder what Kyrie is like when he hangs out with his friends. I wonder what his friends are like. There’s no way he’s actually nonstop blabbering about all this gibberish crap or whatever the hell it is that never makes any sense that he posts on his Instagram when he’s around his friends. If he does, then these either must be some pretty good friends or they’re only putting up with him cause he’s a famous athlete. The way Kyrie can improve his likability is to just be normal. He won’t be receiving anymore criticism for not living up to being a number one option on a contender since he teamed up with Durant. The fix for him is to just stop being weird and be normal, but it feels like we’re way passed the point of no return with that.
Anthony Davis
Davis should write a book titled “How to Ruin Public Perception of Yourself in Ten Days”. The forward should be written by Rich Paul, and it could very easily be the most read book written by an NBA player (sorry Andre Igoudala). Look it’s not a big deal for a superstar player to make a trade request from a team that’s not a title contender. Davis wasn’t the first player to do it and he certainly won’t be the last. Carmelo, CP3, Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, and Paul George all did it last decade. The difference with Davis was he did it 10 days before the trade deadline in 2019 in order to get to the Lakers as soon as possible. And look that’s not a bad thing. That New Orleans team was going nowhere and was a fringe playoff contender at best. The closest they got to pairing him with another All-Star was DeMarcus Cousins, but he got injured and the team actually played better without him.
You can’t fault Davis for wanting out of New Orleans. You can’t fault him for wanting to team up with LeBron in LA. What you can fault him for is giving up on the season the moment he declared his trade request. You can also fault him for acting like he would play for any team (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2k1zy5y65U) when it was obvious he only wanted to go to the Lakers from the moment Rich Paul became his agent. His insincerity and fakeness around the whole situation was annoying to watch. The way Davis becomes more likable is by discussing how the Pelicans failed him and by succeeding with the Lakers. The good news for Davis is those statements are true/happening.
Kawhi Leonard
Remember when Kawhi Leonard was blasted for wanting out of an organization as successful and smart as San Antonio? After winning the title with Toronto and returning home to LA to play for the Clippers, Kawhi’s approval rating has never been higher. It’s crazy how winning a championship changes how we view a player. Well except in Durant’s case. Between “fun guy”, “board man gets paid”, his laugh, and the “Hey Hey Hey” line Kawhi is one of the most beloved superstars in the league. Almost everything he says or does becomes an instant meme. People even love the fact that he doesn’t talk much.
It’s difficult for Kawhi to improve his likability given how beloved he already is, but here’s an idea: He should become the league’s mercenary and become the player who goes to a new team every two to three years and delivers them a title. He’s already done it for two teams. If he does it with the Clippers and presumably wins Finals MVP, he’d be the only player to win Finals MVP with three different teams. Although I wouldn’t fault him for staying home in LA, continuing the mercenary trend would be great for his brand. He’ll become known as the player who goes to struggling franchises for a couple years and ends their title droughts. He could be the star the Bulls have been looking for to win them a title since Michael Jordan, he could push the Sixers over the top while at the same time healing Philly fans’ memory of “the shot”, he could make Sacramento fans not hate their team, he can validate Indiana’s claim as a basketball state by winning them their first title, and he could even save the Knicks….. actually on second thought let’s not get too crazy.
LeBron James
Honestly I’m not sure if there’s anything LeBron could do to improve his approval rating with fans. He’s been in the public eye since he was 16 years old. By now, everyone’s pretty much made their mind up on how they feel about him. He’s loved, hated, respected, feared, and pretty much any other emotion there is. Unless he improbably wins seven rings by the time he retires everyone will probably continue to hold on to the same opinion they already have on him.
Steph Curry
Anytime I hear someone say that they don’t like Steph Curry I’m immediately confused. He’s so entertaining to watch people actually show up to Warriors games early to watch his pregame warm-ups. He might even be the last superstar to play for one team his whole career. The people who don’t like him usually point to one of two reasons as to why they don’t. The first is they incorrectly believe he’s some sort of choke artist in the NBA Finals who’s incapable of winning a Finals MVP. Curry should’ve won the Finals MVP in 2015 when he was the clear best player on the Warriors. However, the award wrongly went to Andre Igoudala because of his defense on LeBron James who averaged 35, 13, and 8. Yeah, cause that makes sense (brutal column for Iggy). His Finals performance in the 2016 loss is forgettable, but he followed it up with performances in 2017 and 2018 that were right on par with Durant’s who won the MVP for those two championships. In 2019 he averaged 30, 5, and 6 while doing all he could in a series loss against the Toronto Raptors with Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson battling injuries. He’s had one mediocre Finals appearance out of five. Let’s stop trying to make this a thing, but until Steph wins a Finals MVP his detractors will continue to push this narrative.
The other reason people don’t like Steph is because his game is focused on the three-point shot. Look I get that there’s an old guard of basketball fans who hate how important the three ball has become in today’s game. I’m not going to go full “ok boomer” with them cause I kind of agree that sometimes these games turn into strict three-point shootouts and aren’t that fun to watch. Especially when each team just starts chucking up back and forth attempts from the logo. Steph is viewed as the face of the three-point shooting revolution and he’ll continue to be disliked from those who hate this new style of play as a result. Unless Steph just stops shooting threes he’ll always have critics because of how he plays. Wait that’s it!!!! The way Steph can best improve his approval rating is by winning Finals MVP without shooting threes. Problem solved!!!!!
Russell Westbrook
Westbrook was easily the hardest player on this list to come up with something he can do to improve his approval rating. He’s one of the most criticized superstars of the 2010s. Whether it’s his out of control play style, his non deference to Durant back when they were teammates, his stat padding, winning an MVP award when he clearly shouldn’t have, early playoff flameouts, or battles with the media, it seems like everyone has something they dislike about Russell Westbrook.
What’s the fix? Clearly Westbrook is never going to be the NBA’s Tom Hanks. But what is the one thing he can do that can make fans turn around on him. There’s got to be at least one thing. I got it. He should take a page out of the book of another highly criticized superstar: Dwight Howard. At the peak of his superstardom, Dwight would always get criticized for not being aggressive enough, having a playful attitude, and not giving a crap night in night out. If Westbrook just started imitating those attributes that caused everyone to turn on Dwight Howard, it might actually have the opposite impact on him. People would stop calling him a ball hog and they’d laugh at all his corny jokes after years of tense press conferences. That’s probably the one thing Westbrook can do to make him more liked by the public that is until he has another inevitable disappointing playoff exit.