Even when they aren’t so great, the Los Angeles Lakers have a huge following around the country, even far away from Southern California. One only needs to look at the large pockets of Lakers fans in the stands for road games, especially in places such as Sacramento, Atlanta and even the New York City area.
While they would never embrace the nickname of “America’s Team,” unlike a certain brash NFL team based in Texas, the Lakers could lay claim to being the nation’s most popular basketball team.
Former Lakers forward Taurean Prince, who signed with the Milwaukee Bucks as a free agent a few weeks ago, was asked which basketball team is America’s team while on the “Run your Race” podcast, and he said it’s the Purple and Gold (at 59:28).
“L.A. Yeah, 100%. I mean, you know now-a-days everybody cares about Instagram, so go look at the followers. The Lakers got 26 million or something, the next closest is like I think it’s Boston with eight million. That tells you right there. Win, lose or draw, no matter who you see out on the streets… I guarantee you those rookies that signed in L.A., Bron’s son and the other rookie, I forgot where he’s from, I think from Tennessee, I guarantee you people are walking up to them saying ‘Let’s go win the championship.’ Every day. No matter what the team looks like, no matter who is on it.”
Prince had a solid season with Los Angeles, meeting his publicly stated goal of shooting 40% from 3-point range. The team will certainly miss his long-range marksmanship and will need other players to pick up the slack in that department.