The NBA’s Most Annoying Celebrity Fans, Ranked

Image via Getty/Tom Szczerbowski

Michael Rapaport's as passionate as any other fan, but he overdoes it a lot. Just look at his rant about the Knicks drafting Porzingis. Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but beyond that, the video was unnecessary and cringeworthy. Rapaport is one of many Knicks fans on the list.

First of all, let’s stop putting Justin Bieber in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. It was cool when he was a kid, but now it’s corny. Bieber is another one of those fairweather celebrity basketball fans. You would assume he’d root for the Raptors, but nah; he might actually be a fan of every single team in the NBA. The dude has to make up his mind.

Generally speaking, DJ Khaled is pretty annoying. Unlike other fans on this list, he’s actually loyal to the Miami Heat, so props for that—but why did the NBA let this man judge a dunk contest? Have they ever seen him play basketball? We saw him used as a prop for DeAndre Jordan in the Slam Dunk Contest last year, and we had to sit through his weak performance at All-Star Saturday night. We’re tired of DJ Khaled, but the NBA keeps forcing us to watch him.

The Pistons are trash, but Kid Rock is even more trash. We learned that his favorite team’s fan base doesn’t even claim him after he was booed at the beginning of the season. This is the same man who once said “f*ck Kaepernick” at a concert and brought a confederate flag to his concert. If Detroit is not rocking with you, we’re definitely not rocking with you.

Kevin Hart is a poor man’s Spike Lee in terms of fandom. His love for the Sixers has actually triggered players into going off on them. First there was James Harden, who dropped 51 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists on the Sixers after Hart was talking smack. More recently, Dwyane Wade dropped 28 points in 26 minutes to stun the Sixers in game two of the first round in the NBA Playoffs. Wade attributed his performance to Kevin Hart’s smack talk.

You can’t talk Knicks basketball history without mentioning Spike Lee at some point in your conversation. He will probably go down as the most passionate NBA celebrity fan of all time, and also the loudest. Spike Lee nearly cost the Knicks a trip to the Finals after Reggie Miller cooked them in Game 5, giving the famous choke sign after a jumper. Luckily, the Knicks came back to win that series and saved Spike’s butt.

Although he may disagree, LaVar Ball is not part of the Lakers’ organization. This would make him a fan, and he might be the most intrusive one of all time. Ball has no chill—he has talked so much that the Lakers instated the “LaVar Ball rule”, which bans media from talking to guests of players at Staples Center after the game. In addition to calling out Luke Walton, Ball has also stated that Lonzo will leave the Lakers if they don’t sign his two brothers, LaMelo and LiAngelo. When LaVar sat courtside at Madison Square Garden this season, he nearly ran out to the court whenever Lonzo made a good play.

Drake is the most annoying groupie in all of sports. Not only does he talk wreckless to players during the game while he’s courtside, but he has a long history of bandwagoning—the man has Steph Curry and Kevin Durant’s numbers tattooed on him. Let’s also not forget the time Drake tried to sneak into the Miami Heat locker room after they won the NBA Finals in 2013. That same year, Drake was announced as a global ambassador for the Raptors but that hasn’t stopped his tomfoolery; he’s working with a franchise and is still fanboying over other players. Drake is at the top of the rap game and he can do what he wants, but that doesn’t make his antics any less corny. I wonder how long this Raptors-Drake relationship will last, as his team is a constant disappointment.