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What is the best basketball city in America?

by YPB Team

Some of these have banners in the rafters, some have a college gym that fills up on a Tuesday in January. Ranking them means deciding which one counts.

  1. New York — ranked #11
    New York
    Rucker Park, the playground legend circuit and the loudest basketball media market in the country.
    1000pts
  2. Oakland — ranked #22
    Oakland
    Bill Russell learned the game here, and Oracle Arena was the loudest building in the league.
    886pts
  3. Boston — ranked #33
    Boston
    Eighteen NBA championships, the most of any city, plus a college scene built around the Beanpot schools.
    624pts
  4. Chapel Hill — ranked #44
    Chapel Hill
    A college town of 60,000 that has produced Jordan, Worthy and six national championships.
    560pts
  5. Memphis — ranked #55
    Memphis
    Grit and Grind, and a college programme that fills the arena when the team is good.
    560pts
  6. Indianapolis — ranked #66
    Indianapolis
    Hoosier Hysteria, the state high-school tournament and the largest basketball arena in the world at Hinkle.
    485pts
  7. Portland — ranked #77
    Portland
    One title and a sell-out streak that ran 814 games, in a city with no other major franchise.
    485pts
  8. Storrs — ranked #88
    Storrs
    A town of 15,000 with more national championships than almost any city, counting both programmes.
    485pts
  9. Los Angeles — ranked #99
    Los Angeles
    Seventeen Lakers titles, eleven UCLA national championships and courtside as a cultural institution.
    485pts
  10. San Antonio — ranked #1010
    San Antonio
    Five titles and two decades of the most admired culture in American professional sport.
    397pts
  11. Detroit — ranked #1111
    Detroit
    The Bad Boys, the Goin' to Work teams and a high-school pipeline that never dried up.
    397pts
  12. Chicago — ranked #1212
    Chicago
    The Jordan Bulls made it the sport's global shop window, and the public-league talent never stopped.
    291pts
  13. Miami — ranked #1313
    Miami
    Three championships since 2006 and a franchise identity strong enough to have a name.
    291pts
  14. Houston — ranked #1414
    Houston
    Two championships, Phi Slama Jama and a metro area that keeps exporting guards.
    291pts
  15. Philadelphia — ranked #1515
    Philadelphia
    The Big 5, the Sonny Hill League and a century of guards who learned the game in the gym.
    0pts
  16. Lexington — ranked #1616
    Lexington
    Kentucky basketball is the civic identity, with eight national titles and a 20,000-seat home gym.
    0pts
  17. Lawrence — ranked #1717
    Lawrence
    James Naismith coached at Kansas, and Allen Fieldhouse is the sport's oldest continuously loud room.
    0pts
  18. Milwaukee — ranked #1818
    Milwaukee
    Two titles fifty years apart, in the smallest market that still wins them.
    0pts

#USA312#Cities26#Basketball128#NBA102

Comments

Rucker Park has run its Harlem summer tournament since 1956, and Lexington, Chapel Hill and Lawrence all have a case without an NBA team: https://youpick.best/articles/lakers-vs-celtics-ranked

YP
ypb-team·8h ago·
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