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Media June 16, 2023
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung

The Most Popular NBA Players on Instagram

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers stands next to Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Last Updated: June 30, 2023
LeBron James is an all-time great on the court and an all-time popular follow on Instagram.

Social media is rarely an exact mirror of real life, but sometimes, it just works out that way. For example, both online and IRL, it sure is great to be King.

LeBron James laps the field as the most-followed NBA player on Instagram with 155 million followers, nearly three times more than the next most popular player, Stephen Curry. Despite not being the player he once was at the peak of his powers, Russell Westbrook remains a favored IG follow in third place. The controversial Kyrie Irving is in fourth, with Lonzo Ball rounding out the top five, even though the 25-year-old guard hasn’t played an NBA game since Jan. 14, 2022 due to possibly career-ending left knee issues.

Without further ado, here is the complete list of the most popular NBA players on Instagram.

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Most Followed NBA Players on Instagram

  1. LeBron James: 155 million followers
  2. Stephen Curry: 52.2 million
  3. Russell Westbrook: 22.5 million
  4. Kyrie Irving: 19.2 million
  5. Lonzo Ball: 17.2 million
  6. Klay Thompson: 15.5 million
  7. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 15.2 million
  8. Kevin Durant: 13.3 million
  9. James Harden: 11.8 million
  10. Chris Paul: 11.6 million
  11. Paul George: 10 million
  12. LaMelo Ball: 10 million
  13. Damian Lillard: 9.8 million
  14. Ja Morant: 9.8 million
  15. Jimmy Butler: 9.2 million
  16. Luka Dončić: 8.3 million
  17. Markelle Fultz: 8.3 million
  18. Ben Simmons: 7.1 million
  19. Joel Embiid: 7 million
  20. Jayson Tatum: 6.3 million
  21. Devin Booker: 5.5 million
  22. Zion Williamson: 5.4 million
  23. Trae Young: 5 million
  24. Kyle Kuzma: 4.9 million

Toward the bottom half of the list, one name that jumps out is Fultz, who has more than 8 million followers and is the only other player besides Ball on this list never to be named an All-Star. And surprisingly, no Denver Nuggets players have more than 5 million followers despite the team winning the 2023 NBA Championship.

Maybe we’re all just waiting for Nikola Jokić to start an account where he takes selfies with his horses…

More NBA:

Shlomo Sprung

Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.