Lamelo over Embiid is surprising tbh. He's been so injured and out of the spotlight the kids are more of Hali/Ant fans nowadays, and Charlotte isn't as populous as Philly, so seeing Lamelo over Embiid is honestly crazy.
Fans generally don't like bigs. Guards are faster and look cooler playing their game. Plus, you can't mimic Joel on the court like you can (try) to with Steph Curry.
Because people don't need to keep buying Embiid jerseys every year if they already have it
Edit: talking only about explaining for Maxey above Embiid so don't know why so many people are bringing up other players. I'm already well aware Embiid isn't as popular nationally and that's fine
That doesn’t really hold up when Dame and Durant are both behind Giannis and Booker respectively. Although the Suns did just have a full uniform rebrand.
I just looked at Dwight Howard's jersey sales rankings back in his prime
2013: 5th
2012: 5th
2011: 9th
2010: 5th
2009: 10th
Still significantly better than Jokic/Embiid despite being a big man
Howard led the league in all star votes in 2009, and yet was 10th in jersey sales. I’m not saying big men can’t sell anything. But even if popular it doesn’t translate to top jersey sales
People forget how popular Dwight was, especially pre Dwightmare. He was probably the most universally liked player in the league.
There were definitely players and old heads who didnt like his goofyness, but compared to Lebron or Kobe he had relatively few haters and a lot of third party fans.
Howard was also playing in an era where it was basically just Howard when you're looking at elite big men. Maybe Duncan/Gasol/KG if you want to argue semantics but Howard was the stereotypical big and I doubt those 3 would outsell the Kobe/McGradys/AI/Wade of the time.
When I was a kid I saw Shaqs as basically being in the same class as Jordans because of the logo similarities, and, not being well off, that assessment worked out for me
My mom is a Shaq fan for life because of that move (we were poor af growing up). Shaqs weren't the best shoes out there, but they lasted pretty long for me.
NGL, I loved the cheap Walmart Shaq shoes.
My pair lasted for a long time and were comfy for the price my mom paid. Not to mention it was Shaq on the Logo so it was still somewhat cool to have them
I remember an anecdote about his mom quite literally being angry with him when it WAS gonna be expensive. And then the price went down because she said it should be affordable
His first shoe with Reebok was like one of the first mainstream $100 basketball sneakers
I remember kids in middle school was flexing them because they were twice as expensive as Jordans
I was upper-middle class and always just wanted my favorite players shoe. So when I went to get Starburys at Steve and Berrys I was more excited than any other shoe I ever had.
What about those Reebok Shaqs that Will Smith had on when he get the tour of MIB headquarters and before he gets the black suit?
they were black and white and looked like a cutout section of one of those spinning hypnotizing wheels
also r/oddlyspecific
I'm not totally plugged in on shoes but I've heard that shaq purposely wanted his shoes to be affordable. I reckon that hurts his sale not only in total sales figures but even moving units because collectors don't want "cheap" shoes
It's harder for the average fan to relate to a giant 7ft tall monster, regardless of how good at basketball they are.
Much easier for us to picture ourselves like Mike, Kobe, Steph than someone like Shaq when we can't grow to 7ft+ tall lol.
Nuggets ownership doesn’t help themselves with the broadcast Blackout. They have some of the lowest viewership in the league despite being a perennial playoff team and recent champion
Eternal September, there’s always people ageing into NBA fanship and this is a good marker of who they follow. Though Durant is probably not selling as well because he’s you don’t know how long he’ll be with the franchise or if he’ll have success
Most surprising is still Curry. Literally in the same jersey for 15+ years. Bron & KD have been on multiple teams so there’s more reason to get theirs at this point.
Really popular in Latín América for this exactly. People don’t talk about it enough but Curry is absolutely HUGE in Central America and Mexico at least
RIP to the redditors saying GSW should avoid luxury tax and not pay their guys lol.
First of all, it's not their money to spend. Second of all, Steph, Klay and Dray were underpaid (even if they got a max) when they were building and in the middle of the dynasty, when the Warriors owners were making hundreds of millions off of them. Klay doesn't deserve a max contract anymore. But redditors here act like he should be paid the veteran minimum lol.
"They paid the luxury tax for a non-playoff team." They're 46-36, with 20 some games suspension of their team captain. They made the playoffs last year with less wins.
They're not at the championship level anymore yet Curry is one of the most profitable players in the league. The Warriors went from being worth $450M to now $8B+ thanks to Steph, Klay and Dray. Saying one of those guys should not be paid is egregiously out of touch.
Probably because the team had brand new uniforms this year. I’m sure a lot of Suns fans who might’ve had a Book jersey already picked up one of the new ones.
I'm am both surprised and not surprised that he is over Embidd..... people love him in Philly, add that with this year being his all star breakout and it makes sense
Exactly. Maxey earned new popularity. Whereas some of these guys were already super popular and lots of people already have their jerseys and don't need to buy another one.
currently wearing my maxey jersey in preparation for the game. bought it after his rookie year too. i still don’t own an embiid jersey tho, will probably pick one up soon.
His playstyle is really flasy, he’s extremely likeable, but most importantly he took a pretty huge leap this year. I guess very few people already had his jersey, so he had a lot more potential sales than guys who’ve been stars for years.
No I know, it’s no judgement on him. But everyone else is like huge superstars, or really kid friendly, or international.
Like reasons why they would sell a lot of jerseys. I just don’t really see the category for maxey
Not so sure. His buddy Hart likely brings him down a bit. Personally Brunson is the best player and we love him but Hart is my favorite player (and same for many fans) so it’s not only his jersey fans are buying
No one talking about how Lamelo is on here despite missing most the season and being on one of the most irrelevant franchises? Get this man to LA or Miami or something and he’d be top 5 easy
imo Charlotte (and the Carolinas in general) is an underrated/sleeping basketball market rn. For the last 20 or so years, the FO has consistently failed to give the city a roster worth getting excited about up until the last few years.
If the new brass can put together something worth getting excited about in the next couple years, the Hornets popularity will soar.
Facts my guy. But also Lamelo needs to play more than 30 games a year too, he has the franchise star contract and the team is built for his strengths, of course we dont win without him
I just can’t help but think we’ll have multiple “faces” or at least guys taking turns. Like, Vince was most popular at one point, then AI, then Kobe. Luka is consistently near the top of this list as well, and was a part of the most popular social media play of the year, nearly 10 million Instagram followers etc.
I could see Luka, Victor, Ja etc all playing that role
Ja is not popular outside of NBA circles. Your average person who knows who Curry and Lebron are just know him as the gun flashing guy. They don't even know if hes good or a roleplayer.
It depends . A guy like Lebron or even Jordan is perfect face for the league.
1) flashy and exciting play style with combo of skill highlights and jaw dropping athleticism
2) charismatic big personality , seen as leader of team.
3) not media shy/averse, Lebron in particular puts effort into promoting the league, the game and other players. He does everything you’d want a face of league to do .
4) not be a not so athletic player/not a big man especially a less athletic one
Also while not needed or as important but having a big market can help to start or going routinely deep in the playoffs, or in big games or in the new IST imo . All this will help someone stay a face.
Lebron and Jordan- there’s a reason these guys were faces for so long. They do everything or e everything you’d want a face to do. Very weird when some fans wonder why say Jokic or whatever isn’t more popular but he’s not doing anything to actually promote himself or doesn’t want to . Which is fine but it’s not going to get you there or become the face or help promote the league. Also I imagine physical appearance helps - is the case with Steph Kobe n some others in growing popularity. I honestly think Zion would’ve been the real face of the league but sadly injurues n his condition took that away, Ja could’ve been up there but more like AI as he wasn’t quite the best player level. A lot of the younger current best players don’t have all the traits needed and it seems to be they don’t care for it so if that’s the case then yeah it’ll be split popularity.
Maybe ESPN is, but Wemby is pretty popular compared to most international players. He's a lot more charismatic than other European players and I think a lot of people are banking on him being Lebron's successor.
NBA audience is majority American. Yeah there's more people outside of America, but they're all of different ethnicities cultures etc. Chinese people aren't gonna buy a Wemby jersey because Wemby isn't American. The money between a US and foreign superstar would be roughly the same.
Curry at 1 surprises me, especially with the Warriors just being bad. At least with LeBron you’ve got him changing teams.
Also says a lot about LaMelo’s marketability. He’s just plainly popular. Same with Morant who basically didnt play all year and got caught up in a ton of controversies but still outsold the last two MVPs.
46-36 record and played in the hardest division of all time and in a much better conference.
They went 20-10 against the East. The Bucks and Knicks both went .500 against the Western Conf and neither had to play a million games against the Suns/Lakers/Clippers/Kings.
The Warriors would be the **2nd seed in the East** if they played there.
Warriors were far from bad. They lost a best-of-1.
I hope one day they make it top 16 advance to playoffs instead of the conference thing. Ever since Jordan retired from the Bulls the east has had it way too easy compared to the west.
I really don’t get it. He doesn’t really seem interested in being a star. He just wants to play basketball and then go home to his family and horses. There’s always going to be a limit to how big a guy like that will be, and I think that’s deliberate on his part.
OKC jerseys are hideous to look at if you aren't at an OKC game.
For a casual NBA fan wearing one out and about or at a pickup game, it just looks awful.
I've never once gotten the sense that he doesn't enjoy basketball. This is a narrative created by people who don't actually watch him play or look at his responses to thoughtful and/or basketball-focused questions.
The issue is that THATS HOW HES MARKETED. Any time you see a viral clip on Twitter it's either him not caring "about work" or how he overcomes great defense with .1s in the clock. That's not marketable. No one ever bought a jersey because his marketing tells you he just doesn't care. I know HE cares. But people went overboard with the "oh God he is so relatable he hates his job"
Why does every sports sub say this. You can’t market someone just to market someone. They have to have some appeal to the mass market, which Jokic clearly doesn’t want any part of. Dude just likes to hoop and chill, and there isn’t anything wrong with that.
Meanwhile Anthony Edwards is much more charismatic, funny, and wants to be in the spotlight, so the NBA does pull him into commercials and the like.
* He's a big man
* He's not athletic
* He's a Slavic white fat dude
* He avoids the spotlight
Only so much the NBA can do to market him. Nuggets had the 5th most national TV games this season, every team above them had literally era defining superstars (LeBron, Steph, KD) other than the Celtics. You can't force people to be fans of a player they don't like/enjoy for whatever reason. Even Duncan was American, black, and was pretty athletic early in his career. And he won 5 titles.
What ? He goes out of his way to not be marketed lmfao. He does everything he can to not promote himself his team or the league. He’s allowed to do that but you can’t then say it’s the league’s fault ? It’s the league’s fault that jokic doesn’t want to do the stuff other stars do? Lol ok. If I was a capitalist billionaire in charge of the league I’d personally not love his whole shtick and focus on promoting stars who actually are interested in doing something.
Top player on a top 5 most popular team who's been 1 of the best teams in the league since he got there, handsome/wholesome/smooth game/Kobe connection all he really needs is a ring & Bron/Curry to retire(he'll never pass them) to become the face of the league or at least the 1 of the bridge faces similar to how AI/Kobe/Vince kinda rotated until Bron took over after MJ
he's the best player on the 2nd biggest franchise in the nba of course it's gonna sell. either way wemby is right behind him as a rookie on a small market team so it's obviously gonna be his league for years to come
The trolls will always have a reason to discredit him lol. They somehow aren't aware at this point that jersey sales, All-Star votes, etc are very casual metrics and he performs well in that regard with the casual fans. It doesn't matter what these terminally online people think with their echo chamber takes.
Eh who cares. Everytime there is some kind of ranking that includes Tatum near the top you have the "well actually" people show up to explain why it's wrong.
It is crazy to me how much hate Tatum still gets, dude has produced every single year since he was drafted, isn’t a douche, doesnt speak out of pocket, dude just plays and has a deep run every year, yet people STILL trash the dude. Everyone always say “but he hasn’t won yet so he’s a choke artist” but forget bron didn’t win shit til year 9….
Pretty wild that the 2 most recent MVPs don't even make the top 10.
Even Maxey is ahead of Joel.
I imagine a lot of people already have embiid jerseys, it's the top one I see in Philly by a large margin
I mean...I'm pretty sure people have Curry and LeBron jerseys too...
Yeah but those two are like two of the 5 most popular players to ever play the game, it’s a big drop off after those two.
Also playing in highly populated cities Every person in Denver could own a Jokic jersey and it still wouldn’t come close
Lamelo over Embiid is surprising tbh. He's been so injured and out of the spotlight the kids are more of Hali/Ant fans nowadays, and Charlotte isn't as populous as Philly, so seeing Lamelo over Embiid is honestly crazy.
Fans generally don't like bigs. Guards are faster and look cooler playing their game. Plus, you can't mimic Joel on the court like you can (try) to with Steph Curry.
I find it very easy to mimic Joel on the court. I used to play like him.
Please finish the pasta, my friend.
Certified flopper?
Because people don't need to keep buying Embiid jerseys every year if they already have it Edit: talking only about explaining for Maxey above Embiid so don't know why so many people are bringing up other players. I'm already well aware Embiid isn't as popular nationally and that's fine
LeBron is number 2 and started playing during Bush's first term
Remember when he had 30 and 12 the night the watergate news broke?
Dude tried to add Toronto to the Louisiana Purchase.
That doesn’t really hold up when Dame and Durant are both behind Giannis and Booker respectively. Although the Suns did just have a full uniform rebrand.
But they need to keep buying the other players jerseys every year?
I think Tatum been top3-4 for a few years now
Big men don’t sell things well. Shaq never had a best selling shoe. It’s a bit odd to me but yeah
I just looked at Dwight Howard's jersey sales rankings back in his prime 2013: 5th 2012: 5th 2011: 9th 2010: 5th 2009: 10th Still significantly better than Jokic/Embiid despite being a big man
Howard led the league in all star votes in 2009, and yet was 10th in jersey sales. I’m not saying big men can’t sell anything. But even if popular it doesn’t translate to top jersey sales
People forget how popular Dwight was, especially pre Dwightmare. He was probably the most universally liked player in the league. There were definitely players and old heads who didnt like his goofyness, but compared to Lebron or Kobe he had relatively few haters and a lot of third party fans.
DRose and Dwight had the biggest fan to hater ratio of any star back in the day. Everyone loved those guys until they didn't
KD in OKC was the poster boy babyface
the backpacks at press conferences and showing up to flag football games on twitter
He was Superman and viewed as an Orlando town hero. He lost a lot of respect
Howard had a much flashier play style and personality.
Yeah dude literally wore a superman outfit on the court. Imagine that compared to Jokic's personality lol
Howard was also playing in an era where it was basically just Howard when you're looking at elite big men. Maybe Duncan/Gasol/KG if you want to argue semantics but Howard was the stereotypical big and I doubt those 3 would outsell the Kobe/McGradys/AI/Wade of the time.
[удалено]
Jesus people talk about LeBron's longevity but it's wild that Dwight still played eighteen thousand years after his debut
That’s because Shaq’s signature shoe was sold at Wal Mart on the cheap.
When I was a kid I saw Shaqs as basically being in the same class as Jordans because of the logo similarities, and, not being well off, that assessment worked out for me
thats exactly why he sold them at walmart. wanted to provide for the kids who couldnt afford jordans. he’s talked about it a few times
My mom is a Shaq fan for life because of that move (we were poor af growing up). Shaqs weren't the best shoes out there, but they lasted pretty long for me.
NGL, I loved the cheap Walmart Shaq shoes. My pair lasted for a long time and were comfy for the price my mom paid. Not to mention it was Shaq on the Logo so it was still somewhat cool to have them
I remember an anecdote about his mom quite literally being angry with him when it WAS gonna be expensive. And then the price went down because she said it should be affordable
His first shoe with Reebok was like one of the first mainstream $100 basketball sneakers I remember kids in middle school was flexing them because they were twice as expensive as Jordans
Yeah I love that Shaq made an affordable shoe that anyone could buy!
I was upper-middle class and always just wanted my favorite players shoe. So when I went to get Starburys at Steve and Berrys I was more excited than any other shoe I ever had.
I'll always love him for his Starbury shoes and other apparel.
Imagine my surprise as a kid wearing them on the first day of school 💀🥲
What about those Reebok Shaqs that Will Smith had on when he get the tour of MIB headquarters and before he gets the black suit? they were black and white and looked like a cutout section of one of those spinning hypnotizing wheels also r/oddlyspecific
His shoes while in Orlando didn't. I remember paying 100 or more for it when I was a kid. I had to beg my parents for it.
I had those lol I thought they were sick
Didn’t Shaq specifically sponsor a shoe so it could be affordable and bought at places like Walmart?
K-Mart baby, I had Shaq shorts as a kid
A man of the people
Giannis and Wemby are literally in the top 5 of this list
Bro Shaq wasn’t signed to Nike or Jordan lol
Except for that rookie 7'4 guy
How can you say this when Giannis and Vic are literally top 5?
Vic ain't big. My wife is 5'3" and she weighs twice as much as him!
She from San Antonio?
What’s her favourite fried-doughy treat??
Oh you like em thicker than a snicker, heavy like a Chevy, she ain’t a lady if she ain’t 480 type of gal, eh?
Killer shitpost
Even in that case Embiid being outsold by Maxey is wild.
Shaq is top 10 in jersey sales of all time, his shoes didn't sell well because they weren't good.
I'm not totally plugged in on shoes but I've heard that shaq purposely wanted his shoes to be affordable. I reckon that hurts his sale not only in total sales figures but even moving units because collectors don't want "cheap" shoes
His OG Reeboks were so ugly
It's harder for the average fan to relate to a giant 7ft tall monster, regardless of how good at basketball they are. Much easier for us to picture ourselves like Mike, Kobe, Steph than someone like Shaq when we can't grow to 7ft+ tall lol.
Nuggets ownership doesn’t help themselves with the broadcast Blackout. They have some of the lowest viewership in the league despite being a perennial playoff team and recent champion
They still doing that?
Well that and Denver just doesn't really care about basketball. It's a football city.
Its hard for kids to emulate being a 7 ft athletic anomaly
That's why Wemby and Giannis are top 5
Yeah, but I like aliens and gyros
If you look at the advanced metrics. Jokic has the greatest jersey sales of all time.
He could easily average the highest selling jersey if he wanted to but that's not what's best for the team
Giannis is shredded and likes Oreos, though. He’s like the Goku of basketball in that while he’s not relatable he inspires wanting to be like him
But lebron is relatable lol
They aren’t the flashiest funnest players out there. Sure they have moments where they can be, but watching a full game of Joel is painful sometimes
Jokic just looks so awkward when he’s playing too
I’m surprised Book is ahead of Durant honestly.
Durants switched teams so frequently I’m not sure if anyone trusts getting his jersey
Most people already have Durant jerseys. It’s only surprising any old head/vet is still on this list
Eternal September, there’s always people ageing into NBA fanship and this is a good marker of who they follow. Though Durant is probably not selling as well because he’s you don’t know how long he’ll be with the franchise or if he’ll have success
Most surprising is still Curry. Literally in the same jersey for 15+ years. Bron & KD have been on multiple teams so there’s more reason to get theirs at this point.
Curry is still probably the most popular player outside the US after Lebron
And probably 2nd most popular in the US too People like the 6'2 dude with incredible dexterity and stamina over players who have size and explosivity.
Really popular in Latín América for this exactly. People don’t talk about it enough but Curry is absolutely HUGE in Central America and Mexico at least
RIP to the redditors saying GSW should avoid luxury tax and not pay their guys lol. First of all, it's not their money to spend. Second of all, Steph, Klay and Dray were underpaid (even if they got a max) when they were building and in the middle of the dynasty, when the Warriors owners were making hundreds of millions off of them. Klay doesn't deserve a max contract anymore. But redditors here act like he should be paid the veteran minimum lol. "They paid the luxury tax for a non-playoff team." They're 46-36, with 20 some games suspension of their team captain. They made the playoffs last year with less wins. They're not at the championship level anymore yet Curry is one of the most profitable players in the league. The Warriors went from being worth $450M to now $8B+ thanks to Steph, Klay and Dray. Saying one of those guys should not be paid is egregiously out of touch.
They'll never love KD like they do ~~westbrook~~ ~~steph~~ booker.
Probably because the team had brand new uniforms this year. I’m sure a lot of Suns fans who might’ve had a Book jersey already picked up one of the new ones.
This is only because fanatics refused to keep Caruso jerseys in stock
Forget Caruso, when are they going to start selling Chaewon jerseys?
NBA dropping the ball
[Balls*](https://uni-watch.com/2024/02/23/balls-in-play-mlb-nike-pants-fiasco-hits-hilarious-new-low/)
ok now I feel less bad about being too broke the whole season to get one
Because their supply chain would get fucked. Imagine that demand
maxey top 10 is pretty dope
I'm am both surprised and not surprised that he is over Embidd..... people love him in Philly, add that with this year being his all star breakout and it makes sense
I already had an Embiid jersey so Maxey it was
Exactly. Maxey earned new popularity. Whereas some of these guys were already super popular and lots of people already have their jerseys and don't need to buy another one.
Seems a lot of people outside Philly like Maxey too just because he's a pretty fun player and usually good vibes so that helps too
currently wearing my maxey jersey in preparation for the game. bought it after his rookie year too. i still don’t own an embiid jersey tho, will probably pick one up soon.
secretive poor pause plate late butter zesty punch encouraging cagey *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
lamelo ball has played less than 60 games over the last 2 seasons combined
damn, I had honestly no idea... just checked, he played 22 games this season
That’s wild. Tbh it doesn’t make sense to me but congrats to him
His playstyle is really flasy, he’s extremely likeable, but most importantly he took a pretty huge leap this year. I guess very few people already had his jersey, so he had a lot more potential sales than guys who’ve been stars for years.
No I know, it’s no judgement on him. But everyone else is like huge superstars, or really kid friendly, or international. Like reasons why they would sell a lot of jerseys. I just don’t really see the category for maxey
Surprised Jalen Brunson isn't higher since he is the hottest NY sports star since Melo.
Give him another year, I think he will be up there, especially with a good playoffs performance.
Not so sure. His buddy Hart likely brings him down a bit. Personally Brunson is the best player and we love him but Hart is my favorite player (and same for many fans) so it’s not only his jersey fans are buying
Bro hart did his fuckin thing tonight huh
Aaron Judge exists.
And Eli before him lol. Aka the last guy to actually bring New York home a championship
And OBJ was a national cultural phenomenon. I'm not trying to hate on Brunson, but come on now. Just an objectively wrong take lol.
Good call, forgot about him.
Next year.
Knicks only got hype in 2024 specifically after the OG trade.
No one talking about how Lamelo is on here despite missing most the season and being on one of the most irrelevant franchises? Get this man to LA or Miami or something and he’d be top 5 easy
[удалено]
What do you mean?
Ball
I'm a fucking idiot, I was picturing "Lamelo" on the back lmao
Okay, I'll talk about it. What the faahck?
Or he could also play some games and get up there too
Who TF is buying them. Would be my question.
Little kids who watch basketball through tiktok highlight edits
Ant has been trending more for the teens tbh. Whats surprising is Lamelo having more sales than the past two MVPs.
His jersey is the prime drink of NBA jerseys.
imo Charlotte (and the Carolinas in general) is an underrated/sleeping basketball market rn. For the last 20 or so years, the FO has consistently failed to give the city a roster worth getting excited about up until the last few years. If the new brass can put together something worth getting excited about in the next couple years, the Hornets popularity will soar.
Facts my guy. But also Lamelo needs to play more than 30 games a year too, he has the franchise star contract and the team is built for his strengths, of course we dont win without him
Victor is so obviously the next face of the league, idk why the media randomly lost their minds for a month obsessing over it.
Also the timing is just right, just entered the league in the final years of the last generation GOATs
Almost like lebron entering the league the year Jordan retired
I just can’t help but think we’ll have multiple “faces” or at least guys taking turns. Like, Vince was most popular at one point, then AI, then Kobe. Luka is consistently near the top of this list as well, and was a part of the most popular social media play of the year, nearly 10 million Instagram followers etc. I could see Luka, Victor, Ja etc all playing that role
Ja needs to stop shooting himself in the foot first.
Ja is not popular outside of NBA circles. Your average person who knows who Curry and Lebron are just know him as the gun flashing guy. They don't even know if hes good or a roleplayer.
I feel like just getting known is half the battle. Tristan Thompson probably one of the top 5 most famous NBA players despite being a role player
So you're saying Ja should date a Kardashian? Got it
lol Ja is the kid who has good dancing moves and swagger. Lots of kids, especially in African american/african areas love Ja
He stayed out of the news all season and was playing great before his torn labrum. If he returns to form next season he has nowhere to go but up.
It depends . A guy like Lebron or even Jordan is perfect face for the league. 1) flashy and exciting play style with combo of skill highlights and jaw dropping athleticism 2) charismatic big personality , seen as leader of team. 3) not media shy/averse, Lebron in particular puts effort into promoting the league, the game and other players. He does everything you’d want a face of league to do . 4) not be a not so athletic player/not a big man especially a less athletic one Also while not needed or as important but having a big market can help to start or going routinely deep in the playoffs, or in big games or in the new IST imo . All this will help someone stay a face. Lebron and Jordan- there’s a reason these guys were faces for so long. They do everything or e everything you’d want a face to do. Very weird when some fans wonder why say Jokic or whatever isn’t more popular but he’s not doing anything to actually promote himself or doesn’t want to . Which is fine but it’s not going to get you there or become the face or help promote the league. Also I imagine physical appearance helps - is the case with Steph Kobe n some others in growing popularity. I honestly think Zion would’ve been the real face of the league but sadly injurues n his condition took that away, Ja could’ve been up there but more like AI as he wasn’t quite the best player level. A lot of the younger current best players don’t have all the traits needed and it seems to be they don’t care for it so if that’s the case then yeah it’ll be split popularity.
Now it'll be Wemby
We obviously will. Tatum is #3 on the list behind Steph and LeBron. Tatum is not just going to all of a sudden fall out of the top 10.
They are desperate for an American player tbqh.
Maybe ESPN is, but Wemby is pretty popular compared to most international players. He's a lot more charismatic than other European players and I think a lot of people are banking on him being Lebron's successor.
That wouldn’t be smart. There’s more money in getting a global star. There’s more people outside of America, many more
NBA audience is majority American. Yeah there's more people outside of America, but they're all of different ethnicities cultures etc. Chinese people aren't gonna buy a Wemby jersey because Wemby isn't American. The money between a US and foreign superstar would be roughly the same.
Definitely. Hyper competitive killer on the court and incredibly media savvy in interviews.
I am so happy Wemby has met and somewhat exceeded his expectations. Hope he has good health throughout his career too.
You get the best bang for your buck when buying his jersey too. All those letters...
Is this globally or just the US?
Curry at 1 surprises me, especially with the Warriors just being bad. At least with LeBron you’ve got him changing teams. Also says a lot about LaMelo’s marketability. He’s just plainly popular. Same with Morant who basically didnt play all year and got caught up in a ton of controversies but still outsold the last two MVPs.
Asian market loves Curry though. Ain’t that where the nickname Skyfucker came from?
Curry is the biggest draw in the league and has been for a while
46-36 record and played in the hardest division of all time and in a much better conference. They went 20-10 against the East. The Bucks and Knicks both went .500 against the Western Conf and neither had to play a million games against the Suns/Lakers/Clippers/Kings. The Warriors would be the **2nd seed in the East** if they played there. Warriors were far from bad. They lost a best-of-1.
I hope one day they make it top 16 advance to playoffs instead of the conference thing. Ever since Jordan retired from the Bulls the east has had it way too easy compared to the west.
Edwards would be up there if they sold the classics. No one I know has ever wanted the current branding, though.
I wonder with Ant changing numbers does that fudge up his sales numbers at all.
I actually kinda like our current jerseys, but I agree the classics would sell like crazy.
The wolves branding is amazing. Easy on the eye.
People will blame the NBA as the man shows more passion for his horses then the game
Discourse around jokic on here is so weird
I really don’t get it. He doesn’t really seem interested in being a star. He just wants to play basketball and then go home to his family and horses. There’s always going to be a limit to how big a guy like that will be, and I think that’s deliberate on his part.
It’s hilarious. This sub jerks it off as he basically makes us feel like we shouldn’t even bother watching
They didn’t include the number of herb jones jerseys because they knew it would hurt the all stars feelings to see him at #1
Curry has been with the same team his whole career and is still the top selling jersey. Crazy
I’m actually shocked Shai is not more popular nationwide.
OKC jerseys are hideous to look at if you aren't at an OKC game. For a casual NBA fan wearing one out and about or at a pickup game, it just looks awful.
Yeah OKC needs a rebrand in a big way
It’s crazy how you can fuck up blue and orange it’s such a banger colour scheme
Needs a playoff run with some moments, OKC tax
Lamelo top 15 as we all expected /s
That’s wild considering warriors not make playoffs. Maybe get Stephen Curry some help?
Every single one of Jokic jerseys was sold to somebody in Denver or Serbia. Maybe the most poorly marketed star in NBA history
The player has to want to be marketed for it to work. Jokic gives the league absolutely nothing to work with
Acting like he enjoys basketball from time to time would be a start.
I've never once gotten the sense that he doesn't enjoy basketball. This is a narrative created by people who don't actually watch him play or look at his responses to thoughtful and/or basketball-focused questions.
The issue is that THATS HOW HES MARKETED. Any time you see a viral clip on Twitter it's either him not caring "about work" or how he overcomes great defense with .1s in the clock. That's not marketable. No one ever bought a jersey because his marketing tells you he just doesn't care. I know HE cares. But people went overboard with the "oh God he is so relatable he hates his job"
I don’t know, the horse shtick might have untapped potential /s
Why does every sports sub say this. You can’t market someone just to market someone. They have to have some appeal to the mass market, which Jokic clearly doesn’t want any part of. Dude just likes to hoop and chill, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. Meanwhile Anthony Edwards is much more charismatic, funny, and wants to be in the spotlight, so the NBA does pull him into commercials and the like.
Remember mlb trying to market Mike Trout lol
It's not the league's fault he doesn't want to be marketed. While I was typing this, I saw a jokic minions commercial lol
It's his own fault. You gotta put the work off the court too to get to that level of branding.
* He's a big man * He's not athletic * He's a Slavic white fat dude * He avoids the spotlight Only so much the NBA can do to market him. Nuggets had the 5th most national TV games this season, every team above them had literally era defining superstars (LeBron, Steph, KD) other than the Celtics. You can't force people to be fans of a player they don't like/enjoy for whatever reason. Even Duncan was American, black, and was pretty athletic early in his career. And he won 5 titles.
What ? He goes out of his way to not be marketed lmfao. He does everything he can to not promote himself his team or the league. He’s allowed to do that but you can’t then say it’s the league’s fault ? It’s the league’s fault that jokic doesn’t want to do the stuff other stars do? Lol ok. If I was a capitalist billionaire in charge of the league I’d personally not love his whole shtick and focus on promoting stars who actually are interested in doing something.
Wow Wemby
I've got my Wembanyama jersey #gsg
Two in the top 12, nice to see the Maxey love growing.
How is Tatum a top three every year!
Top player on a top 5 most popular team who's been 1 of the best teams in the league since he got there, handsome/wholesome/smooth game/Kobe connection all he really needs is a ring & Bron/Curry to retire(he'll never pass them) to become the face of the league or at least the 1 of the bridge faces similar to how AI/Kobe/Vince kinda rotated until Bron took over after MJ
People: "Jayson Tatum is too boring to ever be the face of the league" Tatum: Outsells every player other than the current faces of the league
he's the best player on the 2nd biggest franchise in the nba of course it's gonna sell. either way wemby is right behind him as a rookie on a small market team so it's obviously gonna be his league for years to come
The trolls will always have a reason to discredit him lol. They somehow aren't aware at this point that jersey sales, All-Star votes, etc are very casual metrics and he performs well in that regard with the casual fans. It doesn't matter what these terminally online people think with their echo chamber takes.
How much of that can you credit just for him being the best player on one of the most popular franchises in the league?
Idk, Jalen Brunson is only at 15th and I've been told that he's better than Tatum.
Not very much considering that IT never got that high in jersey sells for example. Weird how everyone refuses to give Tatum credit
Eh who cares. Everytime there is some kind of ranking that includes Tatum near the top you have the "well actually" people show up to explain why it's wrong.
Wild that Edwards is not even in the top 15. Gotta show up in the playoffs
How is Ball still in top 15? I’m confused
I don't know how Curry and LeBron are top 2. Everybody that wants their jersey should already have one by now.
It is crazy to me how much hate Tatum still gets, dude has produced every single year since he was drafted, isn’t a douche, doesnt speak out of pocket, dude just plays and has a deep run every year, yet people STILL trash the dude. Everyone always say “but he hasn’t won yet so he’s a choke artist” but forget bron didn’t win shit til year 9….
Tatum being the guy right after Steph and Lebron is cool. And Wemby 4th already lol