Is it based on popularity, playing ability, and/or stats
I’ve recently seen people consider upper tier players like Lillard and Kawhi as “borderline superstars “ and now I’m curious
Kawhi without a doubt is unequivocally a superstar
Current Kawhi is 100% not a superstar.
Depends on who you ask. This sub has a conniption trying to define it.
There’s no consensus on who or what makes a superstar
4 letters starts with an A
Mostly MVP’s
Can be the best player on a finals team is a decent definition of superstar. Another factor could be 40 regular season wins. If not injured would there team be on the verge of the playoffs due to one player.
25-5-5 Average, Yearly MVP Consideration, Yearly All-NBA Selections, Yearly All-Star Collections, Leads his team to the playoffs yearly
Dame? nah
personally
- calibre of player
- past success
- calibre of team
- popularity
Somebody who can carry a team to a championship
It depends for everyone but for me you have to be a generational star who accomplishes more than the rest WHILE building a brand outside of basketball & have a distinct personality.
I only think Steph and Lebron are superstars though, I know the word gets thrown around too loosely
You need to be a great player who is known to those who don’t follow basketball.
In terms of notoriety, I’d probably have it split it up by levels based on my family and friends.
Tier Zero (You know them whether you like it or not):
Lebron & Curry
Tier One (Don’t follow sports, but have at least heard of them):
KD, Giannis, Luka, Wembanyama
Tier three (Don’t follow the nba, but likes other sports):
Ben Simmons (lmao), Kawhi, Jokic, Embiid, Tatum, Harden, Lillard, Draymond
All of the above.
Here is my superstar 5.
Jokic, Steph, Lebron, Luka, Freak.
Missing a few
A mix of all.
You need to be either super popular or a top player in the league.
Note that top players in the league just naturally become popular as they are often the faces of their franchises and their teams are probably really good.
But if your numbers go down by too much, then you can argue the player is no longer a superstar.
Big enough that they are known by people who have never watched basketball
To me, there are two possible definitions of a superstar.
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Their fame exceeds basketball. Guys like Curry, KD, and Lebron. Great basketball players, but what makes them superstars is that literally everyone, whether or not they watch basketball, knows who they are. The “asses in seats” metric. There are 5 or less of these guys in the NBA at one time.
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A guy who could realistically be the best player on a championship team. This is what most people mean by superstar. There are at most 7 or 8 of these guys in the NBA at one time. By this definition, we pretty much only have Lebron, Curry, KD, SGA, Jokic, Luka, Tatum, and Ant. Really if you want to narrow it down even more it’s “Could realistically be the best offensive player on a championship team”.
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