The 5 biggest personalities in the NBA
The NBA is a league stuffed with larger-than-life stars, and in an era of pervasive social media and neverending news cycles, connecting to and understanding the players fans love to watch (and occasionally love to hate) has never felt more essential to the endeavor of basketball fandom.
Here, in no particular order, are five of the biggest personalities currently dotting the NBA landscape.
LeBron James
It's often easy to forget - amidst the media circus, the ceaseless scrutiny, the hullabaloo over Decisions I & II, the character judgments, the postulating about his place in history, the poring over of every semi-cryptic postgame quote and passive-aggressive Twitter jab - but LeBron can be freaking hilarious.
Next time you watch him resignedly field the same questions about his crunch-time decisions or his relationship with Kevin Love, try remember the pure, giddy joy that was The LeBrons.
And then remember that even today's run-through-the-wringer LeBron is almost always good for a laugh, whether he's yukking it up with Bill Hader in an upcoming Judd Apatow joint or descending unwittingly into dark, absurdist comedy.
He's also shown himself to be magnanimous, intelligent, vulnerable, and outspoken. He has a strong social conscience, and has consistently been on the front lines of the players' ongoing war to wrest power from NBA owners.
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that LeBron’s personality looms larger over the Association than anyone else's.
Swaggy "Nick Young" P
It’s been a difficult season for Swaggy on the court - he’s struggled badly with his shot, clashed with head coach Byron Scott, and suffered what is likely a season-ending knee injury - but he’s remained a bubbly delight off it.
Young is the most eminently quotable player in the league, and no NBAer blurs the distinction between competition and performance art in pro sports the way he does.
That he doesn’t appear to take the game too seriously may be irksome for fans of the Lakers, but to more impartial observers it makes him a perfect foil to the ever-imperious Kobe Bryant.
Whether he's riffing on the dolphin that tried to kill him, asking for a hug to help him bust out of a slump, submitting his head coaching candidacy, touting Kobe's "potential," coming up with his own personal triple-double criteria, or openly campaigning for every single NBA award, everything is more fun when Swaggy's around.
Gregg Popovich
Popovich's personality - the bone-dry humor, orneriness, smug dismissiveness of the media, professionalism, subtle tenderness - has had a trickle-down effect that’s come to encompass and typify the whole Spurs organization. He has molded them in his own image.
Pop can be prickly, of course, but that only makes the moments when his soft center peeks through all the sweeter. And even the prickliness can be a joy. There's a glorious irony to how Pop's notoriously taciturn sideline interviews and press conferences - born of his disdain for the whole mundane, perfunctory process - have become a sideshow unto themselves.
A purported student of Russian history and lover of red wine, Pop resides in the upper echelon of NBA sophistication. But there was no greater thrill than watching him break character, embrace the spirit of lowbrow trash talk, and gleefully count off his five championship rings.
Russell Westbrook
This list isn't just about rewarding guys who make a habit of bristling at the media, but I freely admit to being a sucker for Westbrook’s "execution" interview, and his giving a reporter his MVP vote.
Like Popovich, Westbrook can be surly, and occasionally even unpleasant. But he brings so much to the league that’s wholly unique. On top of being the NBA’s most forward-thinking fashionista (how different might NBA style look today if Westbrook hadn’t made leather pants and leopard-print shirts and lensless glasses seem at least remotely acceptable?), he’s a rollicking, oft-reckless competitor whose presence in any game instantly makes it twice as thrilling.
He also legitimately doesn't seem to care what others think of him, and can make just about anything seem cool, even a 3-point celebration in which he ostentatiously blows on, and holsters, three-pronged finger guns.
Jusuf Nurkic
The modern goon out of Bosnia burst onto the scene this year - amid folk legend about his 400-pound policeman father - and not only acted like he belonged, he chewed up the scenery around him.
From day one, he showed that he wasn't going to back down from anybody, least of all the league's most dominant players at his position.
On top of that, he's apparently been teaching the rest of the Nuggets how to curse in his native tongue.
His rookie season has been like that scene from the Godfather Part II, when a young Vito stiffs resident gangster Don Fanucci and thereby earns his respect.
Rookies are supposed to pay their dues, be obsequious, reverential, and honor the established order. But Nurkic is like Vito, the newly-arrived foreigner deciding that the established order doesn't work for him.
The rest of the NBA is like a collective Fanucci, turning over their fancy hats to discover that Nurkic is making his own rules.