LeBron James billboard in Cleveland, Ohio during November 2009. Before he left Cleveland, then returned to lead the Cavaliers to a title.

Basketball Cities: Where NBA Players Come From

The NBA season kicked off Tuesday night, as a championship banner was raised in Cleveland. Led by the prodigal son, LeBron James of nearby Akron, Ohio, the Cavs’ banner marks their first championship, and the first for any Cleveland team since 1965.

Across the country, the team the Cavs upset — the Bay Area-based, record-setting Golden State Warriors — began their title charge with a fourth superstar in the fold. The Warriors, champions two years ago, finalists last year, are the overwhelming favorite to win another title — likely in a third straight final against the Cavs.

The Bay Area and Cleveland have raised banners, but they haven’t raised many NBA players. Of the 451 players on NBA rosters to start the season, the two metro areas produced one player each (Portland’s Damian Lillard hails from Oakland in the Bay Area, and Boston’s Terry Rozier from Cleveland).

(A side note: metros next to those two fare better, despite smaller populations: Bay Area-adjacent San Jose produced 3 players, and Akron and Canton, near Cleveland, produced 2 each.)

Comparatively, 10 metro areas produced 10 or more NBA players:

1. Los Angeles (26)
2. New York City (22)
3. Chicago (16)
4. Washington, DC (15)
5. Philadelphia (14)
6. Atlanta (12)
7. Houston (12)
8. Dallas (11)
9. Indianapolis (10)
10. Seattle (10)

If you think this looks like a list of the biggest American metro areas, you’re correct. The top 8 metros on this list all rank 9th or higher in size. Seattle ranks 15th, while Indianapolis is the outlier at 34th. In comparison, the Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland) ranks 12th, and Cleveland 31st .

The dominance of Los Angeles and New York isn’t a surprise, both because of their population and their storied basketball histories. New York City proper was once famous for its powerhouse schools and street ball scene. Today, of the 22 NBA players who call the metro home, only 10 of them come from the five boroughs. The rest of this list is rounded out by the largest northeastern and Sun Belt cities (plus Chicago), and two other cities with strong basketball tradition (Indianapolis and Seattle). Basketball appears to be a big city/metro sport. Just outside the top 10 are Boston and Toronto — Boston ranks 10th, and Toronto would rank just ahead of it were it included.

Here is how the 28 metro areas with NBA teams rank for players produced:

NBA players from each metro area with a team.

1. Los Angeles (26)
2. New York City (22)
3. Chicago (16)
4. Washington, DC (15)
5. Philadelphia (14)
6. Atlanta (12)
7. Houston (12)
8. Dallas (11)
9. Indianapolis (10)
10. Toronto (8)
11. Minnesota: Minneapolis-St. Paul (7)
12. Boston (7)
13. Portland (6)
14. Charlotte (6)
15. Memphis (5)
16. Miami (5)
17. Milwaukee (4)
18. Phoenix (4)
19. New Orleans (3)
20. Sacramento (3)
21. San Antonio (3)
22. Oklahoma City (2)
23. Orlando (2)
24. Detroit (2)
25. Cleveland (1)
26. Golden State: San Francisco-Oakland (1)
27. Salt Lake City (0)
28. Denver (0)

Some additional facts:

• While almost 75% of players are American, 41 countries (plus the territory of Puerto Rico) produced at least one player. Following the US, the largest producers are Canada (11), France (10), Brazil (9), and Spain (8)
• The oldest players were born in 1977, and the youngest in 1997. The average player was born midway through 1989, but the median birth year is 1990.
• Only 3 metro areas that aren’t home to an NBA team produced 5 or more players: Seattle (10), Baton Rouge, LA (6), and Baltimore (5).