Sentiment · 2026-27

League sentiment board

How fans and media talk about players and teams. The two are shown side by side, never merged into one number.

Data as of Oct 6, 2026Headlines· Oct 61,513 headlinesFans· Oct 630,576 fan postsCurated· Aug 22prototype values, not measured

A language model rates the tone of headlines, fan posts and comments toward the players they name. Team scores and fan posts from before the model still use a word list, so read those as rough.

Sources and method

Headlines· Oct 6Media lanes. 1,513 NBA headlines from 23 publishers, Jul 24 to Oct 6. A player needs 3 headlines in the last 7 days to get a score. A language model rates each headline as positive, neutral or negative toward each player it names. Checked against 127 labeled headlines, it matched the label about 7 times in 10 and never rated one the opposite way. Players named only in the summary, and team scores, still use a word list. 73% of this week's player mentions have a model rating.
Fans· Oct 6Fan lanes. 30,576 fan posts: 1,318 headlines from 30 team fan blogs, 1,882 social posts and 27,376 video comments, Jun 25 to Oct 6. A player or team needs 5 posts in the last 7 days to get a score. Comments under the same video share weight, so 100 comments on one video count for less than 100 posts spread across many places. Fan blog headlines get the same model rating as news headlines. Social posts and video comments that name a player are rated by the same model when they are collected, up to a nightly limit. Checked against 143 labeled fan posts, it matched the label about 3 times in 4 and rated 2 the opposite way. The word list matched about half and rated 18 the opposite way. Older posts, posts past the nightly limit and team scores keep the word list. 17% of this week's player mentions in posts and comments have a model rating.
Curated· Aug 22Hand-written prototype values dated Aug 22, 2026. They show how the board works and are not measurements.

How often the tone rating matches a hand labelSame as the labelOne step offOpposite side

News headlines 63 headlines

Language model

71% match0 opposite.

Word list

52% match2 opposite.

Social posts 72 posts

Language model

76% match0 opposite.

Word list

44% match6 opposite.

Video comments 71 comments

Language model

72% match2 opposite.

Word list

54% match12 opposite.

A coding agent labeled each one positive, neutral or negative toward one named player, not a human panel. One step off means a neutral rating where the label picked a side, or the reverse. The headline set leaves out the half used to tune the word list.

Fan and media tone are kept separate from performance metrics and Movement Center evidence. The privacy page lists what is kept from each source.

League mood · 7d

50% is neutral. The thick line is a 3-day average once there are enough days.

Fan mood

Fans· Oct 6

57% · 27,058 posts

Media mood

Headlines· Oct 6

56% · 1,108 headlines

Fan vs media gaps

Last 7 days · Sep 30 to Oct 6

Where fans and outlets disagree most this week. Open a player to see what each side talks about.

FansMediaTrack runs 0% to 100% positive, 50% in the middle

Ariel Hukporti59%vs11%Fans +48 pts
Fans talk about
brown
knicks
injury
jaylen
scoring
burst
needed
positive
moment
leaves
game
apparent
leg
edgecombe
dominant
looms
preseason
win
56 fan posts, Oct 1 to Oct 6. Words from 3 fan blog headlines.
Media writes about
injury
leg
knicks
non-contact
preseason
right
suffers
center
leaves
opener
scary
undergoing
imaging
achilles
game
brown
ex-knick
five
minutes
debut
heartbreaking
embiid
18 headlines, Oct 4 to Oct 6. Words from 18 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Kyle Kuzma51%vs5%Fans +45 pts
Fans talk about
trade rumors
role debate
contract
scoring
defense
extension
title odds
injury return
24 fan posts, Sep 29 to Oct 6. Topic tags, since none were headlines.
Media writes about
timberwolves
fires
fan
clowning
pathetic
preseason
opener
calm
remark
1-point
showing
sparks
fans
fury
taylor
jenkins
hold
points
calls
misinformed
people
wemby
gambling
4 headlines, Oct 2 to Oct 6. Words from 4 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Dylan Harper58%vs16%Fans +42 pts
Fans talk about
fox
starter
6th
man
sense
open
thread
continues
roll
ain't
bench
comment
seems
start
22 fan posts, Sep 29 to Oct 5. Words from 3 fan blog headlines.
Media writes about
de'aaron
fox
controversial
stance
decision
espn
insider
reveals
view
compared
stephon
castle
open
thread
continues
roll
ain't
bench
comment
3 headlines, Sep 30 to Oct 6. Words from 3 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Tobias Harris54%vs16%Fans +38 pts
Fans talk about
preseason
calf
strain
questionable
season
opener
open
thread
trained
george
gervin
28 fan posts, Sep 30 to Oct 6. Words from 2 fan blog headlines.
Media writes about
preseason
calf
strain
injury
questionable
worrying
update
forward
miss
sidelined
entire
hit
bad
news
biggest
offseason
pickup
left
opening
night
suffers
season
opener
thunder
7 headlines, Oct 4 to Oct 6. Words from 7 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Dillon Brooks47%vs10%Fans +37 pts
Fans talk about
meet
jordan
ott
coaching
staff
rockets
player
previews
fred
vanvleet
101 fan posts, Sep 29 to Oct 6. Words from 2 fan blog headlines.
Media writes about
preseason
charged
dui
arrest
march
john
collins
opener
pistons
minutes
star
grabs
choked
heated
altercation
stemming
15 headlines, Sep 30 to Oct 6. Words from 15 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Dalton Knecht61%vs24%Fans +37 pts
Fans talk about
revive
career
clippers
success
jared
mccain
trade
entice
thunder
inquire
47 fan posts, Sep 30 to Oct 6. Words from 2 fan blog headlines.
Media writes about
trade
roster
proposed
champion
ruined
update
future
cut
outcast
draymond
green
dealt
brutal
blow
jarred
vanderbilt
hopes
washington
exciting
development
major
insider
hardy
27m
14 headlines, Oct 2 to Oct 6. Words from 14 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Rudy Gobert53%vs88%Fans −35 pts
Fans talk about
defense
scoring
role debate
title odds
contract
trade rumors
training camp
conduct
76 fan posts, Sep 29 to Oct 6. Topic tags, since none were headlines.
Media writes about
lamelo
ball
debut
win
bucks
starting
build
scary
chemistry
pairing
secret
weapon
3 headlines, Oct 2 to Oct 6. Words from 3 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →
Tyler Herro53%vs18%Fans +35 pts
Fans talk about
trade rumors
role debate
scoring
extension
defense
availability
injury return
contract
title odds
training camp
mvp case
conduct
111 fan posts, Sep 29 to Oct 6. Topic tags, since none were headlines.
Media writes about
heat
anthony
edwards
season
culture
camp
super
shady
trying
pants
mid-game
tried
pulling
shorts
defense
subtle
shot
ahead
downplays
intense
player
danger
losing
starting
6 headlines, Oct 1 to Oct 6. Words from 6 headlines.
Bigger words show up in more headlines. Fan words come from fan blog headlines only, because social posts are scored but their text is not kept.
Player sentiment →

How this works

The two lanes are never blended into one score. Both sides here cover the same 7 days, and a gap is only shown when both are measured. A side with only a few mentions can swing a lot, so check the counts when you open a player.

Headline tone

Headlines· Oct 6

Warmest and coolest coverage in the last 7 days, among players with 3+ headlines. Score · headline count.

Warmest

Coolest

Topic heat

Headlines

What outlets wrote about in the last 7 days. Pick a topic to filter players.

training camp25% · 341 headlines · 121 players
contract20% · 262 headlines · 88 players
role debate11% · 141 headlines · 82 players
trade rumors9% · 125 headlines · 79 players
availability8% · 102 headlines · 49 players
scoring5% · 71 headlines · 54 players
extension5% · 70 headlines · 32 players
defense5% · 67 headlines · 50 players

How this works

Share of keyword topic tags across NBA headlines from the last 7 days, not all discussion.

NarrativesCurated· Aug 223 hand-picked storylines, including who fans call overrated. Not measured from this week's posts.

Overrated player

Curated· Aug 22

rising · 14,200 mentions

Fan threads labeling a star as over-ranked, over-paid, or inflated by team record relative to two-way impact.

Trae Young
22% of narrative
Fan 33%
Media 53%
Playoff exit threads revived empty-stats framing; All-NBA snub debate.
Devin Booker
18% of narrative
Fan 39%
Media 59%
First-round loss amplified fair-weather criticism despite scoring volume.
Karl-Anthony Towns
15% of narrative
Fan 36%
Media 48%
Defense-first narratives resurfaced after NYK playoff expectations.
Luka Doncic
12% of narrative
Fan 46%
Media 56%
Availability monitoring kept him in overrated discourse despite Lakers hype.

MVP case

Curated· Aug 22

rising · 9,800 mentions

Positive fan volume arguing a player should lead MVP ballots.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
41% of narrative
Fan 71%
Media 78%
Extension news reinforced best-player-in-the-world framing.
Nikola Jokic
24% of narrative
Fan 66%
Media 69%
Steady media praise; fan volume split with SGA.

Trade speculation

Curated· Aug 22

stable · 11,200 mentions

Unresolved movement language in fan spaces. These are not official transactions.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
41% of narrative
Fan 44%
Media 52%
Hypothetical trade-package threads spiked despite OKC extension reporting.
Luka Doncic
28% of narrative
Fan 46%
Media 56%
Availability monitoring keeps Lakers star in unresolved movement language.

More detail: every player, all 30 teams, and the latest headlines.