Top 10 Basketball Athletes – February 2019

NBA Players with the Most Engaged Fans

The NBA is a hot topic at the moment, with the regular season set to end on April 10th and playoffs beginning April 13th. February was an especially good month for interactions on social media among athletes and fans. Dwyane Wade, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kyle Kuzma experienced the highest social interactions from fans among any other basketball players during the month of February, fueled by the All-Star game. Although Lebron James jumped 4 spots to the fourth position on the rankings, it’s interesting to note that even though he has the highest social media followers among any other player at 65.4M followers, he didn’t manage to secure a spot in the top 3 for social interactions. Hookit analyzed how many interactions the top players received from all social media channels and the reasons for big jumps or decreases in positions.

Key Insights

Dwyane Wade, Point Guard For Miami Heat, Slam Dunk’s First Position

The 13-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion managed to secure the number one spot with a total of 9.8M interactions over 138 posts. Wade received the majority of his interactions from fans on many of his Instagram posts, mainly showcasing pictures from his experience leading up to and at the NBA All-Star game.

Wade has experienced an increase in interactions mainly because this 2018-19 season will be his #OneLastDance with the Miami Heat and the sport altogether. Fans continue to share and comment on his posts with this hashtag and expressing their admiration for Wade. With a social media following of 31.6M, only second in the league behind Lebron James, it shouldn’t be a surprise if Wade holds the top position for social interactions during the remainder of the regular season.

Power Forward For Lakers, Kyle Kuzma, Posted Up Impressive Stats

Kyle Kuzma performed well both on and off the court and generated unique stats for the month of February on social media. The 23-year old managed to increase his social media following fivefold by 2.9M to a total of 3.6M. His 53 posts had 2.8M total interactions, with 80% of the social interactions coming from Instagram.

The reason for the massive increase in followers and interactions on his pages was mainly due to trade talks among the Lakers and the Pelicans. There were talks that the Lakers were offering many of their starters, including Kuzma, for Anthony Davis. This sparked interest in Kuzma on social media and increased his followers by 2.9M in February, despite not making the All-Star game roster and generating unique content around that event.

Joel Embiid, 76ers Center, Experiences Turnover to Eighth

Embiid, two-time All-Star, dropped three spots down to the eighth position in the social interactions rankings. His posts only generated 1.4M interactions among fans with 30% of his content being reached through Twitter and 64% through Instagram posts.

Part of the reason for the lower ranking by three spots is because of Embiid’s decrease in posts from January to February. In January, Embiid posted on social media 16 times, whereas in February, only 7 posts were created. The 76ers center has a social following of 5.3M, so his decrease in the amount of posts still helped him stay in the top-10 ranking among all active players.

The Wrap Up

Dwyane Wade dominates the social interaction rankings with 6.6M more interactions over the second position, held by Giannis Antetokounmpo. All-Star Lebron James, who has a social following of 65.4M fans, wasn’t even able to surpass Wade in total social interactions. These interactions can be instrumental for brands that sponsor those top athletes, increasing their brand awareness and driving value. Analyzing the top ranked basketball players and what drives their interactions to be so high can create valuable insights for any brand looking for new partnerships.

Note: All data is from official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram Business accounts. Any personal Instagram account data is not included in these rankings.

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