Most historically disliked franchise in NBA history?

D.Brasco · Post #1 » by **D.Brasco** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 9:51 pm

If we're talking about overall NBA history, which franchise do you think has attracted the most ire from other fans across the league? I feel the Celtics have the edge (along with most other Boston sports teams in general) historically, but the Lakers habit of attracting or trading for high-profile players has always kept them in that argument.

EmpireFalls · Post #2 » by **EmpireFalls** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 9:54 pm

I’d say Boston has the more dislikable fans (racist, nasty, immensely biased) but the Lakers franchise (lucky trades, free agent bailouts, general tomfoolery) is more dislikable than Boston’s.

Post #3 » by **zimpy27** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 9:56 pm

Lakers have had a championship in every decade, continually relevant and annoying.

thejigglyroom · Post #4 » by **thejigglyroom** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:03 pm

Easily the Lakers

theforumblue · Post #5 » by **theforumblue** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:05 pm

boston has had 2 championships in last 40 years.

hate is long gone.

brackdan70 · Post #6 » by **brackdan70** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:11 pm

EmpireFalls wrote:I’d say Boston has the more dislikable fans (racist, nasty, immensely biased) but the Lakers franchise (lucky trades, free agent bailouts, general tomfoolery) is more dislikable than Boston’s.

Spot on. This describes me as a Celtics fan.
Probably not fair to classify an entire fan base that way though.

Post #7 » by **Doctor MJ** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:12 pm

D.Brasco wrote:If we're talking about overall NBA history, which franchise do you think has attracted the most ire from other fans across the league? I feel the Celtics have the edge (along with most other Boston sports teams in general) historically, but the Lakers habit of attracting or trading for high-profile players has always kept them in that argument.

I’m not sure if the question yields different answers than “What’s the most successful franchise?” here.

Fans generally hate the teams their team loses to.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NZB2323 · Post #8 » by **NZB2323** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:13 pm

zimpy27 wrote:Lakers have had a championship in every decade, continually relevant and annoying.

Not in the 60s or 90s.

Daddy 801 · Post #9 » by **Daddy 801** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:32 pm

I think it’s also easily the Lakers. They clearly have the single greatest advantage from a financial standpoint. And the fans of all mid and small markets hate that advantage. They are viewed as the Goliath of the league even the years they don’t have a winning record or underperform.

Stan · Post #10 » by **Stan** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:34 pm

The answer for the major sports leagues is obviously the Yankees, Lakers & Cowboys.

Old_Blue · Post #11 » by **Old_Blue** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:35 pm

EmpireFalls wrote:I’d say Boston has the more dislikable fans (racist, nasty, immensely biased) but the Lakers franchise (lucky trades, free agent bailouts, general tomfoolery) is more dislikable than Boston’s.

Boston's a weird town. Half of it is seriously intellectual. The other half may as well be cave men. And, yeah, Boston racism is infamous. The 1976 Pulitzer Prize winning photo The Soiling of Old Glory captures a scene that only could have gone down in Boston.

Post #12 » by **bisme37** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:39 pm

Great thread. Always nice to find out people think I'm a nasty biased racist.

Generalizing groups of unrelated people you've never met and assigning negative characteristics to them is kinda the same thing racists do, you guys.

JimmyPlopper · Post #13 » by **JimmyPlopper** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:49 pm

Lakers are the team I enjoy rooting against most.
Celtics second most.
Warriors never were in the convo until the last ten years.
Knicks would be easy to hate but they've never been good enough to justify it

Maxthirty · Post #14 » by **Maxthirty** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 10:53 pm

Stan wrote:The answer for the major sports leagues is obviously the Yankees, Lakers & Cowboys.

And one of those things is not like the others.

tmorgan · Post #15 » by **tmorgan** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 11:03 pm

I’m not a big baseball fan any more, but I’m pretty sure that the Dodgers have passed the Yankees as most disliked. Not just the two straight titles (which took a while), but the brazen wielding of their financial advantage. They just buy EVERYTHING.

zeebneeb · Post #16 » by **zeebneeb** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 11:23 pm

bisme37 wrote:Great thread. Always nice to find out people think I'm a nasty biased racist.

Generalizing groups of unrelated people you've never met and assigning negative characteristics to them is kinda the same thing racists do, you guys.

There is a lot of that these days.

Ignorance has become trendy.

Post #17 » by **GeorgeMarcus** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 11:29 pm

Well I dislike the Celtics more, but from an "objective" historical standpoint, this is the Lakers

strokerace · Post #18 » by **strokerace** » Sat Nov 8, 2025 11:49 pm

Great, just what we need... a thread that is sure to turn into a devisive political rant.

JRoy · Post #19 » by **JRoy** » Sun Nov 9, 2025 12:23 am

Lakers always and forever.

If Satan put together a squad and played the Lakers I’d root for them before the Lakers.

bonita_the_frog · Post #20 » by **bonita_the_frog** » Sun Nov 9, 2025 12:25 am

Miami 2010-11 for sure.