Image via Getty/Tom Szczerbowski
Fans make sports great. Their pride, passion, and support for their squads ideally carry said teams to new heights. And can consist of everyone from your average Joe to world famous celebrities. While plenty of celebrities love football and baseball, the NBA is only the professional league where you’ll see an abundance of celebrities among the other spectators.
Pull up to Oracle Arena and you’ll see Beyoncé and Jay-Z settling into their courtside seats. Turn your head about 45 feet away from them and you’ll see E-40 dressed in blue and gold from head to toe. Head to Staples Center and you’ll see Jack Nicholson; glance to his right and you’ll see Snoop Dogg. Look across court and you’ll see Kendrick Lamar—that’s the culture of the NBA. Celebrity fans are just as passionate as everyone else. Unfortunately, that means they can also be just as annoying as all the other fans acting extra.
Spike Lee’s courtside antics led to Reggie Miller dropping 25 points in a quarter in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. Just last week, Drake started a verbal war with Kendrick Perkins, who would clearly snap him in two if he had the chance. Newsflash, Drake: there’s nothing to talk smack about anymore—your Raptors got manhandled by LeBron James and the Cavs, and they’re about to rename the city LeBronto in his honor. And of course, let’s not forget one of the best smack talkers, Kevin Hart, who’s awfully quiet after his beloved Sixers are on the brink of elimination.
These celebrities might be at the forefront of their respective industries, but as NBA fans, they’re nuisances. As first discussed by the Out of Bounds squad, here are the 10 most annoying celebrity NBA fans, ranked.
10. Rihanna
Like many NBA fans, Rihanna doesn’t have one particular team—she follows LeBron wherever he goes. Give credit to Riri though; she sticks with him through thick and thin. She was still talking smack after the Warriors destroyed the Cavs by 22 in game one of last year’s NBA Finals. Whenever Rihanna shows up, it seems to affect her rumored ex-boyfriend JR Smith. In the two finals game she’s attended in Oracle Arena, Smith is shooting a combined 4-for-17 from the field while averaging a whopping six points per game.
9. Leslie Jones
Leslie Jones made a guest appearance on Shaqtin’ A Fool earlier this season and made it the most cringeworthy episode of all-time. It’s pretty hard to make Inside the NBA cringeworthy, but she succeeded. Not to mention, if she sits courtside at MSG, she’ll make sure you will notice every time. The photo says it all.
8. Michael Rapaport
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.
7. Justin Bieber
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.
6. DJ Khaled
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.
5. Kid Rock
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.
4. Kevin Hart
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.
3. Spike Lee
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.
2. LaVar Ball
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.
1. Drake
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.