The kind of stardom and popularity that the best NBA players enjoy inevitably stirs hatred
among their peers, casual observers, and passionate fans.
So let's take a look at some of the most hated ballers currently playing in the league.
After the Cleveland Cavaliers waived shooting guard J.R. Smith in July 2019, an article
on Cleveland.com described his time with the organization as "complicated."
That word perfectly describes his roller-coaster career.
In 2009, he spent 24 days behind bars after he pleaded guilty to reckless driving regarding
an incident that killed his best friend.
In addition to his off-the-court distractions, he held out for a better contract after the
Cavs won the 2016 NBA Finals.
And those who watched the 2018 Finals won't soon forget his mental mistake in the closing
seconds of Game 1 that cost Cleveland a chance to open the series with a win.
"You get the feeling J.R. thought they had the lead."
"He didn't know the score."
"I think, exactly.
That's a bad mistake by J.R. Smith."
For the most part, Cleveland fans care little about Smith violating the league's drug policy
while with the New York Knicks or even the blunders he committed with the Cavs.
They instead choose to focus on "Shirtless J.R." celebrating a championship down the
streets of downtown Cleveland on a hot July day.
And they also happily recall the many beyond-the-arc shots he buried while playing alongside LeBron
James during the King's second stint with the club.
Thus, it's fair to say that Smith's standing within the NBA community is complex.
A funny thing happened after Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo traded punches during an October
2018 game between Paul's Rockets and Rondo's Lakers.
Multiple players around the NBA defended Rondo while having some choice words for Paul.
After Rondo called Paul a horrible teammate, Ryan Hollins referred to Rondo as one of his
favorite teammates ever while also saying Paul, quote, "has some growing to do."
Glen Davis, who played with both players, added that he also viewed Paul as a, quote,
"horrible teammate."
Furthermore, in October 2017, Austin Rivers told Sports Illustrated that the dynamic between
Paul and Blake Griffin was "weird" when the two played together with the Los Angeles Clippers.
And Paul's suspect reputation doesn't end there.
For example, we may never know the full story about the friction between Paul and James
Harden during the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
After the Golden State Warriors bounced the Houston Rockets from the postseason, Houston
orchestrated a trade that included shipping Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell
Westbrook.
The main reason that Paul remained on the OKC roster through Labor Day was that no other
team wanted to accept his massive contract.
It probably remains a safe bet Paul won't retire a member of the Thunder when all is
said and done.
Point guard Lonzo Ball was always destined to be among the most hated players in the
NBA even before the Los Angeles Lakers drafted him in 2017.
Channing Frye, for one, touched upon this subject in May of that same year, explaining
that LaVar Ball, Lonzo's outspoken and eccentric father, made it, quote, "disgustingly easy"
to hate on the young guard.
Frye was right.
LaVar's public persona, his numerous over-the-top interviews that have been spoofed on Saturday
Night Live, and the Big Baller Brand have all turned Lonzo into a villain despite anything
he has or hasn't on the court.
"I told you it would happen!
Laker's are the best team ever!
Never lost!"
"They're not the best team ever.
They're only 5 in 7."
One of the least surprising developments of the 2019 offseason was the Lakers jettisoning
Ball in a trade package that delivered Anthony Davis to Los Angeles.
Ball responded to that transaction by releasing a rap track in which he claimed that his former
employer will regret the decision to move him to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Even though LaVar behaved himself after LeBron James signed with the Lakers in the summer
of 2018, the three-time NBA champion probably isn't sad he no longer has to worry about
the Big Baller circus.
Lonzo must now shade his haters where it matters most: on the court.
Draymond Green is the type of competitor a fan loves to hate while also wishing that
Green played for his team, particularly during the playoffs.
The trouble with Green when he's on your side is that his antics tend to get himself in
trouble.
For example, during the 2016 NBA Finals, his distinct kicking motions and shots toward
a particularly sensitive area of his opponent got him suspended for Game 5 when his Golden
State Warriors had a 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Warriors then legendarily fell to the Cavs after losing three straight.
Green antagonizing foes with physical play down low and trash talk is one thing.
Daring Kevin Durant to leave the Warriors in free agency, which he reportedly did in
November 2018, is quite another.
It turns out Green was wrong in claiming that the Warriors didn't need Durant to win a third
consecutive title, as they fell to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Finals.
Durant, meanwhile, took Green's advice and left the West Coast for the Big Apple and
the Brooklyn Nets.
So in the near future, Green and Durant will be facing off as members of opposing teams.
Depending on their moods, that could be a lot of fun for fans both casual and passionate.
"I'm not about to go to Kevin Durant and say, 'Hey Kevin, can I get my fiancee pregnant?'"
One might guess that a player who averages a triple-double like it's nothing would be
universally respected and admired.
Russell Westbrook has tested that theory, and the results might not be in his favor.
Fans and TV analysts have accused the one-time NBA MVP of padding his stats and stealing
rebounds from teammates during games, and the fact that Westbrook once offered a not-safe-for-work
response to such individuals probably didn't help his likability in the eyes of his critics.
He also didn't help his case by being an offensive liability in the postseason.
When the Oklahoma City Thunder ended an era by trading Westbrook to the Houston Rockets
in 2019, that may have ultimately sealed his reputation.
If Westbrook can somehow become an ideal teammate and sidekick alongside James Harden, he could
evolve into the league's best Robin to Harden's Batman.
But if he's more concerned with his numbers than winning while wearing a Rockets jersey,
then those who already dislike him may find additional reasons to further vilify him.
There's only one basketball for Westbrook and Harden to share, after all, and Harden's
frustrations are bound to grow while watching Westbrook drop bricks on a cold January night.
Any chance Carmelo Anthony had to silence those who are convinced he's a me-first player
vanished after ten games with the Houston Rockets.
Ahead of the 2018-19 season, some viewed Anthony as a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate.
They also saw an offensive weapon who could help propel James Harden and the rest of the
team past the Golden State Warriors on their way to a championship.
But after only ten games, the Rockets banished Anthony from the roster before trading him
to the Chicago Bulls, who waived him as quickly as possible.
As of 2019, Anthony's career points total is in the top 25 all time.
So how is it possible that he went nearly an entire year without an NBA home even though
he's shown that he can still contribute to a playoff team?
Not a single franchise in need of a scorer made him a legitimate offer after the Bulls
let him enter free agency in February 2019, and he went through the whole summer without
receiving a contract.
His chances for extending his career and enjoying a one-season retirement tour aren't looking
so good right now.
Years after he's played in his last NBA game, Kyrie Irving may live to regret some professional
decisions from early in his career.
He should've been one of the most popular athletes to ever play for a Cleveland sports
franchise, but instead he ditched LeBron James and the Cavaliers ahead of the 2017-18 season
so that he could be the main star for the Boston Celtics.
That experiment went so poorly that both Irving and the Celtics had zero desire to continue
their relationship after two seasons.
Irving marches to the beat of his own drum.
He's a one-time champion who converted one of the most clutch three-pointers ever buried
during Game 7 of a championship series.
He's also made it abundantly clear that he's going to play where he wants to play, when
he wants to play, and with the teammates he wants to play with.
It's not a question of if he will become a villain among those who root for the Brooklyn
Nets.
That day will come.
Brooklyn fans just hope it arrives after Irving guides the team to a title.
Supporters of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks may fail to understand why
Matthew Dellavedova is on this list.
The guard became a beloved member of the Cavs roster in 2013, and he was on the team when
they defeated the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
He then enjoyed a brief stay with the Bucks before returning to Northeast Ohio in 2018.
But throughout his tenure in the NBA, he's earned a reputation as one of the league's
most unsportsmanlike characters.
In 2016, fellow players and coaches voted Dellavedova the league's dirtiest player in
a Los Angeles Times poll.
They tend to point to incidents like when he was ejected for a hard foul committed against
the Washington Wizards' Bradley Beal during a January 2018 game.
Dellavedova defenders may retort that he's just scrappy or a throwback to an earlier
era typified by the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" teams of the 1980s.
But those who oppose him on the court don't share such opinions, in part because they
likely don't want to be on the wrong end of one of his hard fouls.
There was once a time when Kevin Durant was an ideal answer for LeBron James.
Unlike the NBA's reigning King, Durant never took his talents to South Beach to form a
superteam with the Miami Heat.
KD was his own man in 2014, an MVP who never had to make an emotional return to his hometown
to repair his reputation and chase a ring.
He was well on his way to establishing himself as the greatest Oklahoma City Thunder player
ever, and it's possible he'd still be with that franchise if OKC didn't blow a 3-1 lead
to the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
But Durant's legacy forever changed when he signed with the Warriors after Golden State
failed to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 Finals.
Fans viewed Durant as somebody who took the easy way out and joined an already existing
dynasty, and his subsequent pair of NBA Finals MVP awards didn't alter such perceptions.
After he suffered an Achilles tendon injury that will probably cost him the entire 2019-20
season, he followed Kyrie Irving to the Brooklyn Nets.
Once again, Durant is a hired gun rather than somebody who built a championship roster.
You probably can't find a diehard basketball fan who has a neutral opinion of LeBron James.
You either think he's the G.O.A.T., or you laugh that his teams lost in six of his first
nine NBA Finals appearances.
Truth be told, though, the worst thing about him is that he's trying to trademark "Taco
Tuesday."
You may be the greatest basketball player in history, Mr. James, but you can't just
own Taco Tuesday.
Taco Tuesday belongs to the public masses who want an excuse to enjoy a fun meal during
otherwise boring work weeks.
James is his own brand, which may be the most annoying thing an athlete or any public person
can become.
He probably won't ever match Michael Jordan in rings, but he's well on his way to becoming
a billionaire.
Whether or not they want to admit it, most normal people begrudge those who accumulate
such wealth and power.
Even worse, James has twice left his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach."
The second time he left came after he pledged to fans that he was staying put once he re-signed
with the Cavs in 2014.
Loyalty is a rare quality in the NBA these days.
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