Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities?

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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#81 » by Nuntius » Wed Jun 2, 2021 4:15 am

Texas Chuck wrote:
Nuntius wrote:I believe you but how much of it is it because you were born and raised in the US? How much of it has been influenced by what you've heard and seen while growing up? How much of it is the general culture around you?


Impossible for me to say since this is the only reality I've ever known. Never lived full-time outside of Texas. But I'd be naive or egotistical to suggest I somehow have been immune to societal and cultural influence. No doubt the idea of you haven't really made it until you've made it in New York sort of thing almost certainly factors in even as I would say that doesn't matter in the least to me. I'm more one of those obnoxious Texans who think we are the best in the world. :wink:

So I can't answer for sure, but I'd assume I've been heavily influenced by American culture without question.


Right. And that's natural. All of us are heavily influenced by the environment we grew up in. That's why I believe that this situation is different for players who were born and raised in North America than it is for those who were born outside of it. American culture has definitely impacted the whole world thanks to the internet and new media (I mean, I'm a Greek dude who spents his nights watching the NBA and talking to Americans, for crying out loud :lol: ) but the strength of that influence simply isn't the same as it is over there.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#82 » by jokeboy86 » Wed Jun 2, 2021 4:38 am

Love NY. I understand though the crowdedness, ridiculous cost of living, and dirtiness is not for everybody. But its something about the energy there and also coming from the Midwest or other mid-sized towns NYC truly feels like a world city with the many different cultures and people there. If money were no object then I would probably relocate there in a heartbeat. But again I also understand it ain't for everybody.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#83 » by EArl » Wed Jun 2, 2021 4:44 am

If you were a multimillionaire that wanted a night life, beaches, etc would you go live somewhere like Indiana or Ohio over LA, Miami etc? I personally wouldn't.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#84 » by Lepramaniac » Wed Jun 2, 2021 8:46 am

Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:
Lepramaniac wrote:
Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:"Why do NBA players only want to player for 5-6 teams? European soccer players are willing to play for 7 , maybe even 8 teams. Why is the NBA so different?"


This is not how it is: football players very rarely choose where to play, they are bought by another team, but since they are professionals, they play for the team that paid a pile of money to buy them, maybe as a sign of respect. They are not forced to, because in fact there has been some cases of a signing not going through because a player didn't want to go to certain team (usually in cases where they already played for their rival), but it doesn't happen very often. Now, there is also a fundamental difference in why a football player would want to play for a certain team: it is based on football reasons. Because it is either an emblematic team or because he wants to play for a certain manager (Guardiola, Bielsa, Mourinho, etc), or because they know that if they play for a big team, they will be more 'visible' and have more chances of playing for their National Team, which for football players is the most important thing, and something I believe NBA players care not so much about. But it's certainly not because of the lifestyle (unless specific cases like David Beckham) or the weather. In this sense, I believe football players always make their choices with their priorities fixed on the sport they play, then on something else. Take for example, Kylian Mbappe, who despite being French and living in Paris, wants to play for Real Madrid, because of the history that Real Madrid has. Or Eden Hazard, who now wants to leave Real Madrid and go back to Chelsea because he hasn't succeeded there.


Way to prove me wrong by citing players who are willing to subject themselves to c-tier cities like Madrid and London.

Also, your description of the transfer system is an oversimplification, if not outright untrue. Top level players routinely decide where they'll accept transfers to, and renegotiate their contract as part of the transfer.

Players are generally going to go to the place that can pay them the most though. The thing is, soccer clubs don't have a max salary, the NBA does. So when salary becomes equal, the city starts playing a bigger role.


The point I am trying to prove to you is that the majority of football players make their choices based on reasons related to the sport that they play for a living, not on where to live. Madrid doesn't hold a chance against London in most aspects, yet Hazard decided to swap London for Madrid because it meant playing for Real. You want the best example? Bayern Munich, located in Bavaria, where everything closes early, there is little nightlife and laws are very strict, and yet players feel privileged to live in Munich because it means playing for Bayern, one of the historic greats European football teams. Another example? Rapinha from Leeds, a medium city located in Yorkshire, who despite being coveted by teams like Liverpool, has said he would like to remain in Leeds because he feels a strong connection with the team. Now regarding the transfers, I say it again: a player cannot force his exit to a club of his choice. There is no 'sell-me-to-this-team' in football because the teams that owns the signing decides what is the exit clause of a player. So if you want to buy him, yo have to pay the exit clause, which sometimes it is ridiculously high. It happened with Neymar, who wanted to go to PSG, but Barcelona was not willing to sell him: in the end, PSG had to pay his exit clause of 250 million dollars to sign him.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#85 » by Pachinko_ » Wed Jun 2, 2021 8:55 am

I don't think NBA Stars are obsessed with living in certain cities.
American NBA Stars maybe, but international stars don't seem to GAF, history says if they have an opportunity to stay in one place they stay in one place, wherever that may be. It's all America to them, and none of it is home.
See Ginobili, Giannis, Yao Ming, Dirk, Hakeem, Gasol would've stayed if he didn't get traded, etc.

Americans are different, they actually have a homeplace in some State that maybe they want to go back to, maybe they have dreams about American cities growing up, maybe they have friends, family, parents, former teammates in different places, all sorts of things like that.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#86 » by Dutchball97 » Wed Jun 2, 2021 9:02 am

Everything is so far apart in the US. You better hope you like the city you live in because going anywhere else is usually a multiple day affair where you need to travel many hours and get a hotel.

Another thing that might have an impact is simply geographic preferences. As someone born under sea level and having always lived by the coast I'd go crazy in some landlocked place.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#87 » by Pachinko_ » Wed Jun 2, 2021 9:07 am

The other thing is, if you go to a foreign country, wherever you go most things look and feel about the same: just foreign and different to what you're used to. And you don't have the language skills and cultural background to be able to notice the smaller differences anyway.

But if you grow up in a country you learn to notice all the differences and nuances from place to place, and they start to seem huge and important.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#88 » by Kvothe22 » Wed Jun 2, 2021 10:18 am

Well, if I am NBA player NY is the last City I wanna live at.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#89 » by PlatinumState » Wed Jun 2, 2021 10:27 am

For myself I prefer warmer climate and big cities, couldnt imagine living where theres little sun
But it really doesnt matter for nba players because theyre on the road half the time and a lot of them have homes in california for the offseason
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#90 » by prophet_of_rage » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:06 pm

Theo Ratliff wrote:I never understood it either. You're going to be on the road half of the time anyways during the season and you have the money to live wherever you want in the offseason. The NBA seems to be the only league that has this problem. Players would rather sign with a 0-82 Miami Heat team than an 82-0 Cleveland Cavs team that just won a championship.
The NBA not only has a salary cap but a maximum salary as well. So if there is no difference in jobs players pick the most glamourous cities once they hit free agency.

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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#91 » by prophet_of_rage » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:10 pm

matt6715 wrote:
KhalilS wrote:Vast majority of NBA players are black, and they'd prefer places where there is a big community of black people, NYC, Miami, LA, SF so places like Denver and Utah, Portland, Minnesota and San Antonio aren't very desirable, they are far from the east coast and LA, and don't have big black communities, Miami and LA also have great weather.
Another reason is that big market have financial incentive is ads and business ventures.
Although I don't get why a place Dallas isn't sought after, it's big, it has 25% black population and the taxes are low, and it's not that far from the east coast.


As a Mavs fan I always assumed it was due to the heavy European slant to the teams and prior superstars. Guys like Dirk and even Luka didnt grow up playing AAU or spend their offseasons in gyms with other NBA players plotting out moves.
The idea that Black players flock to Black cities is mistaken. Miami, LA, NY are not majority Black cities like Washington, Atlanta, Memphis, Houston.

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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#92 » by prophet_of_rage » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:17 pm

TravisScott55 wrote:
BK_2020 wrote:
KhalilS wrote:Vast majority of NBA players are black, and they'd prefer places where there is a big community of black people, NYC, Miami, LA, SF so places like Denver and Utah, Portland, Minnesota and San Antonio aren't very desirable, they are far from the east coast and LA, and don't have big black communities, Miami and LA also have great weather.
Another reason is that big market have financial incentive is ads and business ventures.
Although I don't get why a place Dallas isn't sought after, it's big, it has 25% black population and the taxes are low, and it's not that far from the east coast.

Miami, LA and SF have barely any black populations, especially compared to places like Charlotte and Memphis. Minneapolis is proportionally more black than Miami, LA and SF.


There are more rich black people in Miami, LA and SF than rich black people in Charlotte and Memphis. I don't think NBA players want to be around working class black people.
They want to be around rich people.

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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#93 » by prophet_of_rage » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:35 pm

UcanUwill wrote:
Texas Chuck wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:
What is so much better about New York? Broadway and thats about it, not saying its bad, but as a person who grew up in small eastern European town that has very little modern amenities like movie theater or game console repairs, I find pretty asinine that a city of 400 K people in it is seen like some amish crapper. You telling that city doesn't have hot spots and amenities?


I don't understand this counter. I don't want to live in New York either. But way more people choose to live there than your European town which I have no doubts is very nice. I currently live in a medium suburb but would prefer to live further out of town and once my kids are out of school plan on doing just that. But this isn't about my preference or no offense yours, but rather the greater population.

My argument is not everyone should want to live in New York or LA. Or that big cities are better than medium ones or small villages. To each their own. But it is reality that those cities both have more people and generally speaking only are seen more as destination cities. Totally independent of being an NBA player.

So I don't think we should be surprised that any occupation collectively prefers the cities that the general population prefers and even less so once we realize many of them have or want to have endorsement opportunities which can be greater there. Or they want to work in other entertainment areas for which being in New York or LA are advantageous for being able to do that while keeping your day job.



I am not saying people should want to live in my town, I am just saying that every NBA city is a Metropolis in comparison, but some people act that NBA put their teams in a swamp, I mean give me a break with Cleveland, everyone brings up Cleveland like its a hell hole, a 400 k CIty sounds pretty good to me, what is exactly so much worse with that than NY? Outside of good weather in LA or Miami, I feel like all these cities have over others is pure Novelty.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#94 » by Pointgod » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:36 pm

So now it’s a problem if NBA players prefer to live in certain cities? Lol. I think the talk about players singing with teams because of a city is overstated. At the end of the day the spend less than half a year in a specific city when you consider the NBA season is a 6 to 8 months.

But how’s this even a question? I think a city like New York is overrated as hell, but given the choice between NY and a smaller city give me NY all the time. Never mind if I was a 20 year old millionaire.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#95 » by matt6715 » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:38 pm

Kvothe22 wrote:Well, if I am NBA player NY is the last City I wanna live at.


You're right. What 20-something millionaire would want to live in a place surrounded by other celebrities and ultra rich people, with unlimited nightlife, fine dining, and literally whatever else you could possibly want at your fingertips? Why don't all of these players want to buy 500 acre ranches in Utah? :crazy:
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#96 » by prophet_of_rage » Wed Jun 2, 2021 1:39 pm

Clemenza wrote:
BelgradeNugget wrote:I think it has nothing to do with cities or skin color but a new cultural thing in America. Majority of European players don't move based on lifestyle but they first and foremost still want to win. They stay loyal to their teams. Care about organization. Black and white. Giannis, Jokic, Luka, Dirk, Many, Parker... It was the same with American players in not so distant past. Malone in Utah, KG in Minnesota. Barkley wanted out of Philadelphia and to Phoenix because he wanted to win. Then he went to Houston, not Miami, LA or NYC. Pippen went to Portland.
But now it is cultural shift among young American players. They want to be celebrates. They want to hang with P Daddy, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rhianna, Oprah. Want to be in the company of Obama, Hilary Klinton. Funny thing is that sports commentators are trying to be part of that world. You can hear Steven A. always saying my friend LeBron, KD... Tyler Hero is white American player that cares more about his Instagram than his play. Of course you still have black American players like Dame that care more about city, organization but you have less and less Lillards and more Heroes, Lonzos, ADs, LeBrons, and they want to be were celebrities are.

Lol, this isn't the early 2000's. None of these young players want to hang with any of these celebs. All those people you mentioned are 50 years old and up. These young new players want the money, play Fortnite/PS5, Instagram fame, and Instagram women. They don't need to be around celebs anymore for that. Especially older ones. Notice all these young players are crying tears of joy on draft night. No matter the city, just getting drafted and into the league is the goal and they'll take it from there after that. Its the ten plus year superstar vet that wants to choose the city to live and play in.
Correct. You can barely control your destination for the first 8 years of your career.

This is an overreaction to superteams having been formed in Miami, Oakland and now Brooklyn.

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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#97 » by Buckeye-NBAFan » Thu Jun 3, 2021 12:30 am

Lepramaniac wrote:
Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:
Lepramaniac wrote:
This is not how it is: football players very rarely choose where to play, they are bought by another team, but since they are professionals, they play for the team that paid a pile of money to buy them, maybe as a sign of respect. They are not forced to, because in fact there has been some cases of a signing not going through because a player didn't want to go to certain team (usually in cases where they already played for their rival), but it doesn't happen very often. Now, there is also a fundamental difference in why a football player would want to play for a certain team: it is based on football reasons. Because it is either an emblematic team or because he wants to play for a certain manager (Guardiola, Bielsa, Mourinho, etc), or because they know that if they play for a big team, they will be more 'visible' and have more chances of playing for their National Team, which for football players is the most important thing, and something I believe NBA players care not so much about. But it's certainly not because of the lifestyle (unless specific cases like David Beckham) or the weather. In this sense, I believe football players always make their choices with their priorities fixed on the sport they play, then on something else. Take for example, Kylian Mbappe, who despite being French and living in Paris, wants to play for Real Madrid, because of the history that Real Madrid has. Or Eden Hazard, who now wants to leave Real Madrid and go back to Chelsea because he hasn't succeeded there.


Way to prove me wrong by citing players who are willing to subject themselves to c-tier cities like Madrid and London.

Also, your description of the transfer system is an oversimplification, if not outright untrue. Top level players routinely decide where they'll accept transfers to, and renegotiate their contract as part of the transfer.

Players are generally going to go to the place that can pay them the most though. The thing is, soccer clubs don't have a max salary, the NBA does. So when salary becomes equal, the city starts playing a bigger role.


The point I am trying to prove to you is that the majority of football players make their choices based on reasons related to the sport that they play for a living, not on where to live. Madrid doesn't hold a chance against London in most aspects, yet Hazard decided to swap London for Madrid because it meant playing for Real. You want the best example? Bayern Munich, located in Bavaria, where everything closes early, there is little nightlife and laws are very strict, and yet players feel privileged to live in Munich because it means playing for Bayern, one of the historic greats European football teams. Another example? Rapinha from Leeds, a medium city located in Yorkshire, who despite being coveted by teams like Liverpool, has said he would like to remain in Leeds because he feels a strong connection with the team. Now regarding the transfers, I say it again: a player cannot force his exit to a club of his choice. There is no 'sell-me-to-this-team' in football because the teams that owns the signing decides what is the exit clause of a player. So if you want to buy him, yo have to pay the exit clause, which sometimes it is ridiculously high. It happened with Neymar, who wanted to go to PSG, but Barcelona was not willing to sell him: in the end, PSG had to pay his exit clause of 250 million dollars to sign him.


What's funny about this argument is that the biggest names from Europe to come to MLS usually want to play for LA or NY. Beckham, Zlatan, Thierry Henry. A guy like Didier Drogba who did sign with a smaller city, Montreal, but he speaks French and talked to Red Bull first anyway.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#98 » by IgorK » Thu Jun 3, 2021 12:35 am

Texas Chuck wrote:Why do more people live in New York than Cleveland? LA than Memphis? Is this really your question?


I think OP is European and might be too young to understand the difference between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City (no offense OKC)
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#99 » by Ducklett » Thu Jun 3, 2021 1:20 am

KhalilS wrote:Vast majority of NBA players are black, and they'd prefer places where there is a big community of black people, NYC, Miami, LA, SF so places like Denver and Utah, Portland, Minnesota and San Antonio aren't very desirable, they are far from the east coast and LA, and don't have big black communities, Miami and LA also have great weather.
Another reason is that big market have financial incentive is ads and business ventures.
Although I don't get why a place Dallas isn't sought after, it's big, it has 25% black population and the taxes are low, and it's not that far from the east coast.


To correct the record, Miami has the same % of black people as the national average (around 15-16%). To put that into perspective, Orlando is around 25% black.
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Re: Why are NBA stars so obsessed with living in certain cities? 

Post#100 » by Harry Garris » Thu Jun 3, 2021 1:37 am

I don't think players have strong city preferences. The media that cover the NBA do. And they project those city preferences onto the players.

Players just want to play on good teams and compete for championships. I don't think the location matters nearly as much to the average NBA player as being on a great team does.
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