NBA Fan Survey – Lakers Dubbed The Most Overrated

We surveyed more than 2,000 NBA fans across the United States to understand which team was considered the most overrated team. More than 30% named the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA season tipped off yesterday and the team at VegasInsider, reached out to the NBA community to get a sense of how fans perceive the various teams in the league. Our primary focus is to delve into which of the 30 NBA franchises the true experts, the fans, deem as the most overrated in the league.

We've carried out a survey among NBA fans throughout the United States, and the results are intriguing. This survey provides valuable insights into the minds of fans and may shed light on a potentially biased media environment.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers:

30% of all NBA Fans Think The LA Lakers Are The Most Overrated Team

The LA Lakers have been one of the most dominant teams for many years, but apparently, not all fans are equally impressed by the LA Lakers, as 30% of the surveyed fans think they are the most overrated team in the NBA. 

LA Lakers and Boston Celtics have both won 17 championships and are by far the two most-winning franchises in the history of the NBA. A mere 7% has the Boston Celtics as the most overrated team, which might be a result of their good performances recently. The Lakers found themselves in 7th place in last year's Western Conference, whereas the Celtics finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference. 

11% Of Lakers Fans Agree With The Above Sentiment

The numbers show us that more than one in ten of the self-proclaimed Los Angeles Lakers fans consider their own team to be the most overrated team in the league. When examining the responses from the Lakers fans, we can see that they find the Golden State Warriors to be the most overrated team, with 18% of the fans picking the Warriors.  Only 7% of the LA Lakers fan base chose the Boston Celtics as the most overrated team, while 32% of the Boston Celtics fan base chose the LA Lakers as the most overrated team. 

Bulls And Warriors Are Tied For 2nd Most Overrated

The Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors are the third and fourth most winning teams in history and both teams had quite an underwhelming showing in last year’s regular season. Their poor performance might have had an impact on how the fans perceived them, with a lot of fans not considering them to be highly regarded. 

Whether or not these findings are a result of the teams' recent performances, we cannot say with certainty, but considering the fact that both the Lakers, the Bulls, and the Warriors are among the top scorers in the survey, it does seem like recent results have been taking into account. Last year’s winner, the Denver Nuggets was only considered the most overrated team by 2% of all American NBA fans, possibly giving the reigning champions the respect they rightfully deserve. 

Methodology: 

The research was commissioned by VegasInsider and carried out by Research Without Barriers (RWB).

The survey was conducted between the 20th and 23rd October, 2023.  The sample comprises 2,003 NBA fans across the United States of America.

All research conducted adheres to the Market Research Society (MRS) code of conduct (2023) & ESOMAR. RWB is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and complies with the DPA (2018).

The raw data can be found here, where you can filter the results based on teams, state, and demographics.

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