Who are the top NBA players in the states each presidential candidate won?
Today we continue our examination of the 2020 United States presidential election through the lens of the current NBA landscape. In this article, let’s compare the states each candidate won, and choose the top 10 players from the available player pool.
First we’ll have to divy up the states based off the official electoral map. For states that haven’t officially been called, we’ll give those to the candidate that is currently in the lead as of November 11th.
Once that is determined, we seek out which NBA teams reside within the states each candidate won. Doing so will give us the following distribution of franchises:
| BLUE CONFERENCE | RED CONFERENCE |
|---|---|
| Boston Celtics | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Brooklyn Nets | Indiana Pacers |
| New York Knicks | Charlotte Hornets |
| Philadelphia 76ers | Miami Heat |
| Chicago Bulls | Orlando Magic |
| Detroit Pistons | Dallas Mavericks |
| Milwaukee Bucks | Houston Rockets |
| Atlanta Hawks | Memphis Grizzlies |
| Washington Wizards | New Orleans Pelicans |
| Denver Nuggets | San Antonio Spurs |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Portland Trail Blazers | Utah Jazz |
| Golden State Warriors | |
| Los Angeles Clippers | |
| Los Angeles Lakers | |
| Phoenix Suns | |
| Sacramento Kings |
With the conferences decided, it’s time to find the best of the best from each side. I used mostly end-of-season awards (both full-season and for seeding games) and playoff performance to determine which players made the cut. Here is my top 10 for the Blue State and Red State All-Star Teams:
| BLUE TEAM | RED TEAM |
|---|---|
| Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers | Chris Paul, Thunder |
| Devin Booker, Suns | Donovan Mitchell, Jazz |
| Khris Middleton, Bucks | Russell Westbrook, Rockets |
| Kawhi Leonard, Clippers | James Harden, Rockets |
| Jayson Tatum, Celtics | Luka Doncic, Mavericks |
| LeBron James, Lakers | Jimmy Butler, Heat |
| Anthony Davis, Lakers | T.J. Warren, Pacers |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks | Bam Adebayo, Heat |
| Joel Embiid, 76ers | Rudy Gobert, Jazz |
| Nikola Jokic, Nuggets | Kristaps Porzingis, Mavericks |
Which squad do you think is better? Let me know in the comments!
But of course, you know I’m going to take these teams out for a spin in NBA 2K! Check out the Crucial Baskets YouTube Channel on Friday to see the Blue State and Red State All-Star Teams really go at it! Will it be as hotly contested as the real election, or will one team dominate over the other? Stay tuned to find out!