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Which NBA Jerseys Are Euros Buying?

July 25th, 2018 · No Comments · Basketball, Lakers, NBA

No need to be an international NBA fan to guess the answer to that one. The top-two selling jerseys, at the least.

That would be LeBron James, No. 1, as he should be, and Stephen Curry, three-time NBA champion.

The NBA recently posted lists on the top 10 jerseys sold in Europe, during the 2017-18 season, via the e-commerce outlet NBAStore.eu

The league also has sorted jerseys by team, ranking the top five among the 30 NBA franchises.

How many of the 10 players and five teams can you name? What are Euro fans buying?

–On the individual side, once you get past LeBron and Curry, the next few are not all that difficult to predict. Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook and Giannis Antetokoumnpo are the next three, followed by two more easy calls — James Harden and Kevin Durant, each a former MVP.

The final three of the top 10 has a couple of surprises: Lonzo Ball of the Lakers is at No. 8, followed by non-surprise DeMar DeRozan and, at No. 10, Hassan Whiteside.

Who knew Lonzo would break into the top 10 as a rookie? Ahead of veterans such as Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Chris Paul …

If we are being honest, we need to cite the attention stirred up by LaVar Ball, Lonzo’s bombastic father, as a factor in the sales of the No. 2 Lakers jersey.

Hassan Whiteside is just weird, in the top 10. The open-minded NBA pundit probably would have at least a half-dozen individuals ahead of Whiteside, best known for shot-blocking, and maybe as many as a 15 to 20.

The PR form working for the NBA offers up a possible explanation for the Whiteside placing, one that goes beyond competence on the court, by noting “the success of the Miami Heat Nike City Edition Swingman jersey, featuring the Vice color combination”.

–As for the team results …

The only mild surprise was this: The Golden State Warriors returned to No. 1, swapping places with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And the news there would be: “More Cavs stuff than Warriors stuff was sold during the 2016-17 season?!?”

Apparently so. A hangover from the Cavaliers’ June 2016 championship, probably.

Two of the other three are entirely predictable: The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, ranked 3 and 5, respectively. The Celtics were very good last season, but they also have a long history of championships and great players. As do the Lakers, though not as recent: Only the history of Kobe, Jerry, Elgin and Shaq could carry into the top five a franchise that has posted a losing record for five successive seasons.

The one semi-surprise was the team at No. 4. The Chicago Bulls.

Maybe that black-and-red jersey with a bull’s face and horns facing out tickles the fancy of the European consumer. Bullfighting is, actually, still legal in parts of Spain and France. Maybe Portugal, too.

Look for the Cavaliers to plunge out of the top five, with LeBron gone, and the Lakers to move up a slot or three, now that they employ the league’s most popular player.

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