The Most-Hated NBA Team On Social Media Is Historically Bad Against The Spread

It seems like every NBA fanbase thinks the world has it out for their team.

Don’t believe us? Take a casual stroll through any NBA team’s subreddit or X (formerly Twitter) community, and you’ll find countless fans feeling slighted by everyone, ranging from referees to Commissioner Adam Silver himself.

Now, we might have evidence to show which team fits that bill thanks to a new study from Fadeaway World. The NBA news site used a “machine-learning sentiment analysis tool” that analyzed 366,944 tweets directed at 492 active players with X accounts and 43,685 tweets directed at the 30 NBA franchises, with the analysis period ending late last year.

The most-bashed team? The Atlanta Hawks.

Wait, the Atlanta Hawks? If most people had to guess which NBA team is the most hated, chances are they’d guess a nationally divisive team like the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers, not a consistently mediocre franchise that hasn’t won a championship since the Eisenhower administration.

But the reason for that hatred became clearer once Forbes Betting looked under the hood. While the Hawks have a dismal 18-26 record this season, they’re even worse (11-33) against the spread.

That’s on pace to be one of the worst ATS records of all time. It’s also likely a major reason why this Hawks team seems to be hated by all mankind (especially NBA bettors).

What Does It Mean to Have a Bad ATS Record?

Before we get too far, let’s take a look at what the spread means.

The spread introduces a handicap for wagering on a game, an equalizer of sorts. If the Hawks were playing the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics, they’d likely be significant underdogs.

As an alternative to betting the Hawks to win on the moneyline, you could bet them to “cover the spread.” That would entail losing by a certain number of points or winning the game outright.

This season, the Hawks have only had 11 games where they’ve either won or lost by the amount of points allotted to them on the spread. Through 40 games, they were 10-30 against the spread – the worst mark through 40 games in the last 30 years, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The Hawks are dreadful even with the spread as help.

In that 40-game span, they were 5-17 ATS as a favorite, 5-13 as an underdog, 4-15 at home and 6-14 on the road, per For The Win.

And bettors took notice.

So the Hawks Are Bad?

Yes and no. 

The Hawks are currently on pace for 33.5 wins – nine fewer than their preseason Over/Under at DraftKings Sportsbook. They were projected to be a .500 team, but that now seems optimistic in hindsight.

Still, they have some pieces. Trae Young is a two-time All-Star averaging a double-double, but he’s a leaky defender whose attention span sometimes appears to wane. The same can be said for Dejounte Murray, who’s averaging more than 20 points per game but has been floated in trade rumors for most of the season.

Young and the Hawks embraced the heel role in 2021 when he shushed Madison Square Garden during the Hawks’ stunning playoff win over the New York Knicks. Now they appear in the crosshairs of gamblers, thanks to their historic inability to cover the spread.

That said, the Hawks currently sit at 10th in the Eastern Conference, which would earn them a spot in the Play-In Tournament. There’s still a chance they make the playoffs, which would give bettors more opportunities to troll them online.

What Other Teams Were Most Hated?

The Chicago Bulls (23-21-1 ATS), Golden State Warriors (20-21), Minnesota Timberwolves (22-20) and New York Knicks (24-18-2) rounded out the top five most-hated teams.

While all of them have middling records against the spread, there are still plenty of examples (here and here) of bettors getting upset over each team’s failure (or success) at covering the spread.

Regarding individual players, Draymond Green, Miles Bridges, Ivica Zubac, Grayson Allen and Patrick Beverly finished in the top five.

Green has embraced the villain role, getting suspended multiple times for various outbursts. His most recent suspension came earlier this season when he struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić two months after choking Rudy Gobert.

Bridges’ placement on the list isn’t a surprise either, considering he missed all of the 2022-23 season after he was arrested for felony domestic violence.

As for the others, one quick scroll shows plenty of examples (here and here) of angry gamblers upset at their performance on a given evening.

But for every one person upset at a specific player, chances are there are two more people upset at the Hawks.