My fairly random reason for supporting the Cavs is that the first game I ever saw was a Mark Price/Brad Daugherty era Cavs game vs Milwaukee. Milwuakee stunk and the Cavs won big, so that was that. I didn't really become passionate until the internet became a thing (that makes me feel old), and the Cavs had just drafted Brevin Knight, Derek Anderson, big Z, traded for Kemp, etc. Seemed like a young up and coming team and I followed them closely from that point.

These days I "support" the Cavs, but watch less games than I used to, especially the past 3-4 years, which doesn't coincide with my enjoyment of the NBL ramping up as the quality of play has grown. With the NBA I'm far more likely to catch specific matchups based on other players rather than watch the Cavs in the regular season, but come playoffs I'm 100% Cavs again.

Enjoyed watching both the Sixers, Celtics, and Jazz this year. A little bit for the Aussie connection (especially Sixers), but mostly because they play a pretty fun brand of ball.

The NBA is where the talent is. Simple as that.

I started following the NBA like a lot of people in the early 90s but never picked a tean early on. Didn't want to jump on the bandwagons of the time (Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, then Hornets and Magic) so didn't have a team until the Raptors came in. Decided I was going to support them or the Grizzlies so that I could support a team from day 1. And then the Raptors drafted Damon Stoudamire who was my favourite college player at the time.

I was still a (much) bigger nbl fan at the time, being able to go to games and see almost all of the best Aussie talent, but nowadays its very much the other way round and I'll watch almost any NBA game thats on (I had NBA league pass in my single days, but now settle for espn)

I've also been fortunate enough to have lived in Canada a few years back, so I got to see plenty of Raptors games in person (and at 15 cities in total).

Yeah I was kind of thinking about this question when I was watching the game earlier. It's like, how do you pick and team and get invested when they're in a city you may never go to and you're never going to see them live? What is it that binds Australians to their NBA teams?

Personally I follow the Australians in the NBA because I actually have an invested interest in them, and that interest is the Boomers, who are first and foremost my team above anything else. I can appreciate the talent of NBA players and watch it for that, but at times I'm caught out wondering why I should care about them or their teams, which is probably the inverse problem to what many Aussie NBA heads have about the NBL.

But at best I am a very casual follower of the NBA. I found there to be a lack of real intensity tonight, and way too much jacking up threes and iso-ball. I much prefer the way we play the game in Australia or the way they play in Europe despite the obvious differences in athleticism. I like hustle, intelligence, pretty ball movement and high IQ basketball that you rarely see in the NBA. I like the way they play in Europe where every game and every play has meaning, and where the fans are throwing coins and blowing trumpets. I like the full court tenacity of the way Australians play. It was a bit of a culture shock for me to watch Game One of the NBA finals and see everyone nonchalantly stroll the ball up the court and defenses seemingly allow themselves to be outhustled for three quarters of the game.

My first exposure to the NBA was NBA Courtside 2002. Didn't know any of the teams or players, so I just stuck with the Lakers for season mode as they were the default. So when we got Foxtel and I was able to follow the NBA, that was my team.

I shifted back over to the NBL around the time of the lockout and have barely watched any NBA since.

My guess is that overseas fan engagement and passion is player-driven or play-style-driven, but those in the US cities have a genuine emotional connection, which is infinitely stronger.

To me, an Australian's passion toward an NBA team is somewhat artificial

hose in the US cities have a genuine emotional connection, which is infinitely stronger.

To me, an Australian's passion toward an NBA team is somewhat artificial

Kobe, I think it has to do with a person's emotional connection to a place. That's the differences between genuine and artificial, that sense of 'home' or 'belonging'. Undoubtedly there's a psychological term for it.

It's the same line of thinking that makes someone's hometown important; you have experiences in that place, good or bad, and your brain associates the city with certain emotions and experiences. You are a part of your surroundings and your surroundings are a part of you.

random how i follow - look at the quality of the game rather than a particular team - although been keen on 76ers at present. Have foxtel so get plenty of games, follow on FB as well. Tend to watch NBL and college before NBA then Eurobasket.

I don't buy nba merch although considering a small something. Really like it when we see old players / identities or other profiled people at the games.

Wil watch some games if there is talk of a great player or team emerging.

Way way back in the day Channel 7 used to show NBA games late at night. I happened to stumble across it one night and it just happened to be the 1980 finals in Magic's rookie year where the Lakers beat the 76ers. Lakers have been my team ever since

I was about 12 years old and it was Xmas time. I had just got a David Robinson card that had rookie of the year on it. Then I went shopping and saw a mr Robinson t-shirt at Myer. They also had Jordan shirts but I wanted someone different —- not really knowing who David Robinson was at the time. I bought the Robinson shirt and that got he into the nba and the spurs. Been a spurs supporters now for almost 30 years and Robinson Duncan and Leonard have been the players I've really supported during this time. Glad I chose Robinson over Jordan

I'd agree that the emotional connection to a team isn't as strong as it would be if you were living in or close to the city and able to see games in person regularly and have most of your friends also follow that same team etc. I'll never love another team as much as I did the Melbourne Tigers for that reason (the Saints in AFL would be my closest).

I would say being able to go to a bunch of games in Toronto as well as across other NBA cities helped me renww my passion but even if I didn't have a team of my own I'd watch NBA games as a neutral over NBL games because the talent is infinitely better and I dont have a connection to any nbl team either.

My NBA fandom was there since the old Channel Seven days of NBA very early on Sunday mornings, I think? Back then it was always Celtics, Lakers and 76ers games. I remember being very young, and they showed Lakers V Spurs and I thought, who TF are the Spurs, LOL.

Anyway, I was a big Miami Dolphins/Dan Marino fan, so I had a "link" to Miami that way. But back then there was no Miami team in the NBA, so I just coasted, not being a fan of any particular team until the Heat came in. Then I finally had my team. Bimbo Coles, Steve Smith, Rony Seikaly etc. Been a Heat fan ever since.

Was a teenager in the 90's when the NBA became much more well known here in Australia. Didn't really have a team, but loved Charles Barkley and followed him essentially. Then when Gaze joined the Spurs, I decided I was going to be a Spurs fan (despite hating the Melbourne Tigers). Have followed them ever since, but I'm not super invested in them. The last few years I have probably followed the Jazz and the Sixers with just as much interest thanks to the Aussie factors.

As with Duke Fan, Bill Palmer's telecasts of the playoffs in the early 1980s introduced me to NBA and basketball generally. Defaulted to following the Lakers as they were in the most games (because they won) and I got to see more of them than other teams. My girlfriend at the time was a Celtics fan (she'd played basketball as a youngster) and we used to take sides in the Lakers-Celtics games.

Lost interest in the NBA in the late 1980s. By then we were season ticket holders with the 36ers and the NBA games had lost their gloss. As pointed out above, I had no personal connection to the teams and the games were becoming a bit boring. Watching games live and up close at Apollo was more exciting and engaged me more. You can't really beat the feel of being in the home crowd when your team wins a close game of wins the championship. So I lost interest in the NBA and never regained it.

On the "living in the city" gives you a stronger connection idea, I've always felt sport is about community involvement and that's where your connections to teams arise. I grew up in country SA and that's definitely the case there.

I'd say it's also why the Crows have promoted themselves as the team for (all of) SA and Melbourne United promoted itself as the team for all of Melbourne. IIRC every NBA team identifies itself as belonging/representing to a specific community as well (as per their names).

I liked the NBA in the early 80's when the TV would show highlights. I must admit, Flying High with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made it a little more likeable as a teenager.
I do like the Lakers, but I follow Celtics, due to family reasons.

Watching the 93-94 finals as a youngster and I was hooked from there

Pro Basketball Weekly/ One on One and Basketball Digest kept me going through the 90's until the NBA got back on our TV's in the early 2000's or I could afford League Pass

I must say all these 3's as a regular part of the NBA game has turned me off more than at any stage of my fanhood but the stars are still the stars

I visited San Antonio and watched a playoff game in 2001 and have been a fan ever since

NBA is a next level spectacle. You're talking 5 of the most impressive athletes on the planet on each team.

People like the best of the best. Even those who don't generally love basketball get into NBA playoffs.

I follow via league pass and reading stats.

Definitely not the same as following a team where you go to the games though. Spurs won championships, I was happy but life goes on.

If St Kilda ever wins a premiership, I probably won't even show at work till at least Wednesday....

It probably makes me sound like a bandwagoner but I got into basketball as Jordan was at his peak and have spent countless $$ collecting most of his shoes.
As a younger bloke I used to buy basketball week, pro basketball today and one on one magazines and read every box score.
Now I'm watching as my sons grow up admiring players like LeBron and Westbrook.

Thanks for all the replies. It's interesting to see what makes people tick.
On the question of connection, I think that's one of the things that differs between people. On could argue that watching the the NBA play-offs because they are the ultimate Basketball game, is a purer form of repect.

Me, I definitely need to feel an emotional connection to a team. But that's just me, everyone is different.

Like a lot of West Aussies, I followed the Bulls a bit after Longley joined. (To me his time with the Timber-wolves was disappointing) then when he left I drifted off.

It's funny though, how attachments are formed.

The only American team to which I feel an attachment is actually an NFL team, not basketball.

Grew up a Jazz fan due to them being the first team I won the title with in Lakers Vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs on my first PC. Stockton had blond hair in that game so it wasn't until a year or so later when I began collecting cards, before they became so insanely popular, that I really knew what he looked like.

I've always been a fan of ball movement, playmaking, and the art of the assist so Stockton was my idol who I modelled my game after especially being an undersized PG.

Got to work with a few organisations in some capacity when living overseas namely Boston, San Antonio, and Portland so became team neutral for a few years.

When that stopped and I had lived in PDX, the 503, for several years right as Rip City was reborn with Roy and Aldridge I became a steadfast and loyal Blazers man. Having followed little known Oakland guard Damian Lillard since high school I really lucked out when the Blazers drafted him.

Why the NBA? The high level entertainment, the stars, the skills and the show. It's one of the few sporting leagues around the world that truly has it all. And though there are dynasties and several teams who are constantly mismanaged its not the same teams every year like it is in European football. We've had this generation's Leicester while the NBA has small market teams like the Spurs and Cleveland bob up with titles while others regularly compete and contend.

As far as players go these days its Dame, the Aussies, and to a second team in Brett Brown and his Philadelphia 76ers (would support them even without Ben as I've known Brett since shortly after he first arrived in Australia).

Other all time fave players include Magic, Muggsy, Pierce, Toine, Timmy D, Malone.

Dad installed Lakers vs Celtics on our old VGA computer back in the late 80s / early 90s. My love for basketball was born!

Why? Because Ball is Life
How? Reddit mostly, or stream games when I get a chance

My first exposure to the NBA was in the early 90's, as the ABC used to show an NBA game around 11 AM every Friday night. It was usually a replay of a game from a few days ago, but given we were reliant on flicking through the sports pages of the Herald Sun for NBA results back then, you didn’t often know the result anyway.

I started following the Golden State Warriors back in 1990, solely because Chris Mullin was my favourite player at the time. The Run TMC era was fun, but ultimately not that fruitful for GSW, then Chris Webber burned them, then they just drifted along aimlessly for 15 years, until they stumbled upon the greatest roster ever assembled.

It's funny, everytime someone asks me who I follow in the NBA, and I reply that it’s the Warriors, I always feel the need to justify my long term supporting of the team, as I suspect a large percentage of their Australian followers have only been on board from 2015 onwards.

I’m still obsessed with the NBA. I have an office job, but the ESPN website is in the background all day every day, checking the scores. Will be 43% more productive at work the day the NBA season ends.