NBA surpasses one billion likes and followers on social media
TORONTO – The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the first professional sports league to surpass one billion social media likes and followers.
The league’s more than one billion likes and followers includes all league, team and player accounts combined across social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram along with Tencent and Sina in China.
The NBA’s social media following includes 28.5 million likes on the league’s Facebook page, 19.5 million @NBA followers on Twitter, and 12.7 million @NBA followers on Instagram.
Twelve-time NBA All-Star LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers tops all NBA players on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, while the Los Angeles Lakers are the most followed NBA team on social media.
Rounding out the top five NBA players on social media are the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, and the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony. Eight of the top 10 players on the list were selected to participate in NBA All-Star 2016. Nearly 90 percent of NBA players are on at least one social media platform.
The Lakers are followed on the top teams list by the Chicago Bulls, Heat, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.
| Top 10 NBA Players Across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram |
| 1) LeBron James, Cleveland: 66.3 million total likes and followers |
| 2) Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: 33.7 million |
| 3) Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City: 28.8 million |
| 4) Dwyane Wade, Miami: 22.1 million |
| 5) Carmelo Anthony, New York: 15.9 million |
| 6) Stephen Curry, Golden State: 15.3 million |
| 7) Chris Paul, L.A. Clippers: 13.6 million |
| 8) Derrick Rose, Chicago: 12.8 million |
| 9) Dwight Howard, Houston: 12.7 million |
| 10) Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City: 10.0 million |
| Top 5 NBA Teams Across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram |
| 1) Los Angeles Lakers: 28.3 million total likes and followers |
| 2) Chicago Bulls: 22.5 million |
| 3) Miami Heat: 21.6 million |
| 4) Boston Celtics: 11.3 million |
| 5) Golden State Warriors: 10.3 million |
To embrace its global social media fanbase, the NBA was the first professional sports league to include its social media handle on its official game ball when it added the @NBA handle prior to the 2014-15 season.
About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2015-16 season featured 100 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA.com and the NBA app, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV. The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with more than one billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.