Okay, so I’ve been digging into this whole “which state has the most NBA players” thing, and let me tell you, it’s been a bit of a ride. Started off just kinda curious, you know? Like, you always hear about these basketball hotbeds, but I wanted the actual numbers.
Getting Started
First off, I gotta find a list of all NBA players, and their birthplaces. This part was a bit of a challenge. Some data sources are so messy, all over the place. I just wanted a simple list, but it is what it is. But eventually, I hit up a few spots and pieced together something that looked pretty solid. I even found that some experts in sports betting from * have also done some research. Their data is up through the 2023-24 NBA season, which is pretty up-to-date, right?
The Process
Next, I started tallying up the players by state. I figured the easiest way was just to go through the list, state by state, and keep a running count. Nothing fancy, just a simple count for each state. I used a simple spreadsheet to keep track of everything. No high-tech stuff, just some good old-fashioned counting.
Discoveries
Here’s where it got interesting. Turns out, California is the king of the court, no surprise. I mean, with 416 players coming from there, it’s not even close. Los Angeles alone, with the Lakers and Clippers, is practically a basketball universe of its own. That Lakers’ history of 17 NBA championships is something else.
And then you got places like Kentucky, where college basketball is basically a religion. It’s the only state that puts college ball above all others. That’s wild, right? But for the NBA, it’s a different story. For example, NBA is the top sport in only four other states and Puerto Rico.
On the flip side, Vermont hasn’t produced a single NBA player. Zero. That’s kind of a fun fact, in a weird way. In the 2016-2017 NBA season, California had 46 out of 428 players in the league. That’s huge!
Wrapping Up
So, yeah, that’s pretty much it. California dominates, which, let’s be honest, isn’t that shocking. But seeing all the numbers laid out like that, it really puts things into perspective. It’s cool to see where all these players are coming from and how it all adds up.
This whole thing was more about satisfying my own curiosity than anything else. But hey, maybe someone else finds it interesting too. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder of how spread out the talent is across the country. Anyway, that’s my little data adventure for the day. Hope you found it somewhat interesting!
