Sentiment · 2026-27
Player sentiment
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 61,543 headlinesFans· Oct 631,071 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. 1,543 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. 72% of this week's player mentions have a model rating.
- Fans· Oct 6Fan lanes. 31,071 fan posts: 1,329 headlines from 30 team fan blogs, 1,919 social posts and 27,823 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. 18% 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.
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.
Players
266 players for 2026-27. 264 have at least one measured lane. Filtering topic trade rumors.
How this works
Trend compares the last 7 days of headline tone with the 7 days before. It stays blank until both weeks have enough headlines. DRBL/100 is last season's.
| LeBron James |  PHI | 54%Fans | 53%Headlines | −3 | 98 | +0.2 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo |  MIA | 54%Fans | 69%Headlines | — | 60 | +1.9 |
| Luka Doncic |  LAL | 56%Fans | 60%Headlines | −10 | 57 | +1.1 |
| Jalen Duren |  DET | 55%Fans | 80%Headlines | +64 | 51 | +2.0 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns |  NYK | 53%Fans | 38%Headlines | −7 | 46 | +0.3 |
| Stephen Curry |  GSW | 60%Fans | 58%Headlines | −4 | 43 | +1.2 |
| Jaylen Brown | PHI | 61%Fans | 65%Headlines | +35 | 33 | -0.1 |
| Austin Reaves | LAL | 57%Fans | 55%Headlines | −26 | 29 | +0.4 |
| Joel Embiid | PHI | 56%Fans | 53%Headlines | −18 | 26 | +0.2 |
| Draymond Green | GSW | 46%Fans | 43%Headlines | −24 | 19 | -1.7 |
| Walker Kessler | LAL | 62%Fans | 52%Headlines | — | 18 | — |
| Anthony Davis |  WAS | 44%Fans | 34%Headlines | −24 | 17 | -0.2 |
| Brandon Boston Jr. |  CHI | 57%Fans | 62%Headlines | — | 17 | — |
| Bronny James | LAL | 54%Fans | 66%Headlines | −1 | 17 | -0.9 |
| Kawhi Leonard |  TOR | 51%Fans | 44%Headlines | +3 | 16 | +2.4 |
| Dalton Knecht | LAL | 61%Fans | 22%Headlines | — | 15 | +0.1 |
| Dillon Brooks |  PHX | 48%Fans | 10%Headlines | — | 15 | -0.0 |
| Jimmy Butler III | GSW | 51%Fans | 52%Headlines | −8 | 15 | +1.6 |
| Anthony Edwards |  MIN | 63%Fans | 55%Headlines | — | 13 | +1.4 |
| Jordan Hawkins |  MEM | 55%Fans | 38%Headlines | — | 13 | -1.1 |
| Kevin Durant |  HOU | 56%Fans | 49%Headlines | — | 12 | +1.2 |
| 3136776 | — | 56%Fans | 51%Headlines | +17 | 11 | — |
| Josh Hart | NYK | 53%Fans | 50%Headlines | — | 11 | +0.0 |
| LaMelo Ball | MIN | 59%Fans | 85%Headlines | — | 11 | -0.0 |
| Brandin Podziemski | GSW | 56%Fans | 85%Headlines | — | 10 | +0.1 |
| Bub Carrington | WAS | 48%Fans | 35%Headlines | — | 10 | -1.5 |
| Cooper Flagg |  DAL | 67%Fans | 76%Headlines | −5 | 10 | +0.3 |
| Jayson Tatum |  BOS | 60%Fans | 83%Headlines | — | 10 | -0.3 |
| Klay Thompson | MIA | 66%Fans | 78%Headlines | — | 10 | +0.1 |
| Nikola Jokic |  DEN | 64%Fans | 63%Headlines | −9 | 10 | +1.4 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander |  OKC | 55%Fans | 55%Headlines | — | 10 | +2.8 |
| Ja Morant |  POR | 65%Fans | 56%Headlines | — | 9 | -1.2 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | GSW | 63%Fans | 56%Headlines | +56 | 9 | -0.0 |
| Matisse Thybulle | LAL | 67%Fans | 57%Headlines | — | 9 | +1.5 |
| Brandon Miller |  CHA | 73%Fans | 86%Headlines | — | 8 | +0.6 |
| Coby White | CHA | 29%Fans | 7%Headlines | — | 8 | +0.0 |
| Darius Garland |  LAC | 57%Fans | 53%Headlines | — | 8 | -0.3 |
| 4432173 | — | 69%Fans | 56%Headlines | +4 | 7 | — |
| Adou Thiero | LAL | 64%Fans | 81%Headlines | — | 7 | — |
| Rui Hachimura | LAC | 65%Fans | 76%Headlines | — | 7 | +0.3 |
| Ziaire Williams | LAL | 71%Fans | 88%Headlines | — | 7 | +0.9 |
| Buddy Hield | CHI | 62%Fans | 70%Headlines | +7 | 6 | -0.2 |
| Damian Lillard | POR | 56%Fans | 52%Headlines | — | 6 | — |
| Kyrie Irving | DAL | 64%Fans | 63%Headlines | — | 6 | — |
| Nikola Jovic | MIA | 69%Fans | 50%Headlines | — | 6 | -1.7 |
| OG Anunoby | NYK | 58%Fans | 73%Headlines | — | 6 | +1.0 |
| Tyler Herro |  MIL | 53%Fans | 18%Headlines | — | 6 | +0.7 |
| Al Horford | GSW | 64%Fans | 70%Headlines | — | 5 | -0.3 |
| Cason Wallace | OKC | 53%Fans | 30%Headlines | — | 5 | +0.7 |
| De'Aaron Fox |  SAS | 46%Fans | 60%Headlines | — | 5 | +0.0 |
| DeMar DeRozan | DEN | 57%Fans | 71%Headlines | — | 5 | +0.2 |
| Jalen Brunson | NYK | 59%Fans | 53%Headlines | −39 | 5 | +0.6 |
| Paul George | BOS | 44%Fans | 74%Headlines | — | 5 | +0.8 |
| Amen Thompson | HOU | 60%Fans | 61%Headlines | — | 4 | +0.4 |
| Bobby Portis | MIA | 63%Fans | 75%Headlines | — | 4 | +0.5 |
| Collin Sexton | LAL | 59%Fans | 31%Headlines | — | 4 | +0.7 |
| Jamal Shead | TOR | 75%Fans | 100%Headlines | — | 4 | -0.7 |
| John Collins | DET | 56%Fans | 25%Headlines | — | 4 | +0.6 |
| Julius Randle |  BKN | 54%Fans | 73%Headlines | — | 4 | -0.0 |
| Kyle Kuzma | MIL | 51%Fans | 5%Headlines | — | 4 | -0.5 |
| Miles McBride | NYK | 43%Fans | 50%Headlines | — | 4 | +1.1 |
| RJ Barrett | TOR | 60%Fans | 26%Headlines | — | 4 | +0.2 |
| Ryan Nembhard | DEN | 86%Fans | 72%Headlines | — | 4 | -1.6 |
| Scottie Barnes | TOR | 45%Fans | 71%Headlines | — | 4 | +0.0 |
| Zion Williamson |  NOP | 51%Fans | 25%Headlines | — | 4 | +1.3 |
| 4683834 | — | — | 46%Headlines | — | 3 | — |
| Devin Booker | PHX | 55%Fans | 84%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.0 |
| Domantas Sabonis |  SAC | 55%Fans | 67%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.6 |
| Dylan Harper | SAS | 58%Fans | 16%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.3 |
| Egor Demin | BKN | — | 67%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.6 |
| Jake LaRavia | LAL | 59%Fans | 67%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.3 |
| James Harden |  CLE | 55%Fans | 56%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.0 |
| Jared McCain | OKC | 68%Fans | 67%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.3 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt | LAL | 47%Fans | 45%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.7 |
| Kel'el Ware | MIL | 73%Fans | 64%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.8 |
| Matas Buzelis | CHI | 66%Fans | 59%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.0 |
| Myles Turner | MIL | 55%Fans | 84%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.0 |
| Naz Reid | CHA | 75%Fans | 61%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.2 |
| Nic Claxton | CHI | 55%Fans | 26%Headlines | — | 3 | -0.1 |
| Norman Powell | CHI | — | 59%Headlines | — | 3 | +1.4 |
| P.J. Washington | DAL | — | 69%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.2 |
| Payton Pritchard | BOS | 68%Fans | 67%Headlines | — | 3 | +0.7 |
| Ace Bailey |  UTA | 60%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.8 |
| Alex Caruso | OKC | 53%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.7 |
| Alex Sarr | WAS | 66%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Andre Drummond | NYK | 61%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.4 |
| Antonio Reeves | MIN | 64%Fans | — | —— | — | — |
| Ausar Thompson | DET | 64%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.3 |
| Bennedict Mathurin | NOP | 57%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.5 |
| Bradley Beal | LAC | 38%Curated | 44%Curated | —— | — | — |
| Brandon Ingram | LAC | 45%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.0 |
| Brandon Williams | GSW | 71%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.1 |
| Brook Lopez | LAC | 69%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Cade Cunningham | DET | 61%Fans | 54%Curated | —— | — | +0.1 |
| Carter Bryant | SAS | 65%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.8 |
| Christian Braun | DEN | 65%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.1 |
| Cody Williams | MIN | 55%Fans | — | —— | — | -1.1 |
| Daniel Gafford | DAL | 77%Fans | — | —— | — | +1.1 |
| DaRon Holmes II | DEN | 56%Fans | — | —— | — | — |
| Davion Mitchell | MIA | 51%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.4 |
| Deandre Ayton | WAS | 52%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.5 |
| Derik Queen | NOP | 72%Fans | — | —— | — | -1.1 |
| Dyson Daniels |  ATL | 60%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.1 |
| Evan Mobley | CLE | 56%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.5 |
| Gary Payton II | GSW | 69%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.8 |
| Gary Trent Jr. | MIL | 50%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.5 |
| Isaiah Stewart | MEM | 59%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.3 |
| Ivica Zubac |  IND | 68%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.2 |
| Jaden Hardy | LAL | 70%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Jaden McDaniels | MIN | 67%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.3 |
| Jaime Jaquez Jr. | MIL | 63%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.5 |
| Jalen Green | PHX | 54%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.5 |
| Jalen Johnson | ATL | 70%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Jalen Smith | CHI | 72%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.5 |
| Jalen Suggs |  ORL | 70%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.1 |
| Jeremiah Fears | NOP | 70%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.7 |
| Jeremy Sochan | POR | 67%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Joan Beringer | MIN | 61%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.2 |
| Jordan Clarkson | NYK | 65%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Jordan Poole | NOP | 52%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.8 |
| Josh Giddey | CHI | 62%Fans | — | —— | — | -1.0 |
| Kevin Huerter | DET | 36%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.2 |
| Kevin Porter Jr. | MIL | 57%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.0 |
| Kevon Looney | LAL | 63%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Khris Middleton | WAS | 65%Fans | — | —— | — | -1.1 |
| Landry Shamet | NYK | 59%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.8 |
| Lauri Markkanen | UTA | 56%Fans | — | —— | — | +1.8 |
| Luke Kennard | PHX | 44%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.9 |
| Marcus Smart | HOU | 68%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| Miles Bridges | PHX | 57%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.2 |
| Miles Kelly | GSW | 57%Fans | — | —— | — | — |
| Moussa Cisse | DAL | 59%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.1 |
| Ousmane Dieng | MIL | 59%Fans | — | —— | — | -1.6 |
| Pacome Dadiet | NYK | 30%Fans | — | —— | — | — |
| Paolo Banchero | ORL | 60%Fans | 63%Curated | —— | — | -0.4 |
| Paul Reed | DET | 61%Fans | — | —— | — | +1.1 |
| Peyton Watson | CLE | 66%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.3 |
| RayJ Dennis | ATL | 59%Fans | — | —— | — | — |
| Ryan Rollins | MIL | 55%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.2 |
| Sam Hauser | BOS | 66%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.7 |
| Santi Aldama | DAL | 56%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.0 |
| Stephon Castle | SAS | 55%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.6 |
| Steven Adams | HOU | 57%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.5 |
| Trey Murphy III | NOP | 66%Fans | — | —— | — | +1.0 |
| Tyler Kolek | NYK | 62%Fans | — | —— | — | -0.5 |
| Zach LaVine | SAC | 63%Fans | — | —— | — | +0.4 |
Showing 146 of 266 players. Trend is in percentage points on the 0–100% scale.