How popular is Zion Williamson compared to other All-Stars?

Had he not been injured, Zion Williamson would be a Western Conference Starter in the 2023 All-Star Game. He finished fourth in the frontcourt fan voting for his conference, receiving nearly 3.8 million votes. It is clear that Williamson is plenty popular across the league.

But just how popular is he?

According to a recent study conducted by Betway, not that popular – at least in comparison to his fellow All-Star Starters. Recently, the website conducted a study examining which of the original All-Star Starters (before injuries kicked in) get the most social media mentions (across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) since the start of 2023.

Unfortunately, Williamson finished last out of all the starters in social media mentions since January 1st, tallying 19,137 votes in that span of time. Part of this could be chalked up to him playing for a small-market team in the New Orleans Pelicans. And part of this could also be because he has been sidelined for almost the entirety of 2023 with a hamstring strain he suffered on January 2nd against the Philadelphia 76ers. Regardless, it is interesting that such an explosive athlete would grade so poorly on the popularity scale.

For those wondering, LeBron James finished in first (264,219 mentions), Kyrie Irving was in second (187,173), Kevin Durant was third (127,998), Giannis Antetokounmpo was fourth (108,926), Stephen Curry fifth (79,538), Luka Doncic sixth (49,260), Donovan Mitchell seventh (35,504), Jayson Tatum (34,759), and just ahead of Williamson at ninth was Nikola Jokic (26,915).

Betway also measured what percentage of these mentions were positive mentions. And unfortunately for Williamson, of all the original All-Star Starters, he had the lowest percentage of positive mentions, with only 9.22% of his mentions being considered “positive.”

Once again, for those wondering, LeBron James finished first in positive mention percentage (21.96%), Stephen Curry finished second (16.36%), Nikola Jokic was third (16.20%), Donovan Mitchell fourth (16.10%), Giannis Antetokounmpo fifth (15.85%), Kyrie Irving sixth (15.09%), Kevin Durant seventh (14.79%), Jayson Tatum eighth (14.47%), and Luka Doncic was ninth (14.46%).

So, not only is Williamson the least mentioned of the starters, but he’s also not being mentioned in a positive way very often. Maybe part of this is frustration over his inability to consistently stay healthy over the last couple of seasons. Who knows.

What we Pelicans fans do know is that people better start showing Williamson some more love before he gets back on the court because if they don’t, he’s sure to make them look silly by continuing to dominate.