This recent NBA champion is the most popular team in all of Europe – NBC Los Angeles

Basketball may have been invented in America, but the United States isn’t the only country that loves watching LeBron James’ slam dunks and Steph Curry’s three-point logos.

Over the past four decades, basketball’s popularity has increased across the globe, and the influx of players from around the world has only increased viewership. By far the greatest contribution from NBA players has come from the European continent, where soccer is still king, but basketball is quickly becoming the second most popular sport.

The last five NBA MVP awards have gone to an internationally born player, two of whom, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, are from Europe. The success of these players and their teams has led to an important question: which NBA team is the most popular in Europe? Are these Giannis’ Milwaukee Bucks? Jokic’s reigning champion Denver Nuggets? LeBron’s Lakers or Curry’s Warriors?

Sports media company OhBets I also wanted to know the answer. So, in the grand tradition of a very important global search, they decided to dig deeper into the data that makes up the vast majority of Google searches in Europe to discover the continent’s favorite NBA team. Forget that Brexit or the Eurovision Song Contest— this is the news people really want to know!

According to the study, the Golden State Warriors are the kings of the European basketball castle, as the most favorite NBA team on the continent.

OhBets The methodology was based on collecting Google searches in each European country for each team and each month of the past year. Is the methodology wrong? Maybe. Would a survey in each country have been preferable? Probably, but the results are nevertheless credible.

The Golden State Warriors are a modern dynasty. They have won four NBA titles in the last nine years and been to six Finals in the same span. They have one of the best players in the world on their team, Steph Curry, and, for three years, had two of the best, Curry and Kevin Durant.

So it’s no surprise that the Warriors are the most searched team in 12 European countries, including Italy, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The Milwaukee Bucks finished second in the rankings as the most searched team in 11 European countries. For obvious reasons, Giannis’ home country of Greece seeks out the Bucks more than any other NBA team, but Germany has sought out Milwaukee more than the birthplace of “The Greek Freak.”

The gold and silver medalists in this study make sense, but the bronze medalist surprised us. The Chicago Bulls, who haven’t won the NBA title since 1998, finished third in the study, with eight countries rooting for them more than any other NBA team. Some of these countries include Poland, Romania and Hungary. If this study had been conducted 30 years ago, this result would not be as surprising, but it is clear that the nostalgia for Michael Jordan remains.

The Dallas Mavericks, whose best player is the charismatic Luka Doncic, finished fourth in the study, with seven countries chasing them. Slovenia, Doncic’s home country, is suffering from a serious case of Mavericks fever, and Spain, where Doncic played for Real Madrid from 2015 to 2018, has also taken a dig at the team owned by Mark Cuban.

Continuing the list, the Denver Nuggets finished in fifth place, with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro all chasing the reigning NBA champions. Nikola Jokic, a two-time NBA MVP, as well as the 2023 NBA Finals MVP, is the obvious reason why the Nuggets are so popular in this region of Europe, as “The Joker” was born and raised in Serbia.

The list is rounded out by the Boston Celtics, who were the favorites in Ireland (must be the leprechaun mascot) and Turkey. The Cleveland Cavaliers were the most searched team in Finland, probably because current Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen played for the Cavaliers and was born in the town of Vantaa. Eventually, the small country of San Marino found love again with the Philadelphia 76ers.

A spokesperson for OhBets commented on the results saying: “The NBA has never been more popular globally, and it’s interesting to see the contrasting interest from different teams in Europe, as well as the fact that there is no not a single team dominates the entire continent based on popularity. popularity.”

The NBA has played exhibition games in Europe since 1984, but recently played a series of regular season games in Europe and Mexico. From 2011 to 2014, the NBA played an annual game in London, and between 2015 and 2019, the association played a game in Mexico City and London. Starting in January 2020, the association moved the game from London to Paris, where a total of two matches were played at the Accor Arena, with the third scheduled for January 11, 2024 between the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For fans of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, the purple and gold were the second most searched team on Google in several of those European countries, but were not the most searched team in any country. Could LeBron James’ international interest be waning? Or maybe the lack of European players in their squad could be the reason? Regardless, the Lakers gained worldwide attention with Magic Johnson and the Showtime Era in the 1980s, and still remain popular today, but the NBA landscape is much more diverse today than ever before. he wasn’t at the time.

Basketball fever has spread across the world, and with the start of the 2023-24 season, it will be interesting to see the results of this study next summer, once a new NBA champion is crown. So whether you’re a Warriors fan or a Bucks fan, keep Googling your favorite NBA team; You never know when your browser history might be part of the next NBA fan study.

Below you will find the full results of the study conducted by ohbets.com:

Results by country: