From NBA and NFL to MLB and NHL, each league has star players coming from all across the US, but which are the most beloved players hailing from Kansas?
To see which sports stars have won over the most fans, BetKansas.com have created an index ranking athletes from Kansas based on various factors such as social media mentions, follower growth, and average monthly searches.
The NBA rookie and Denver Nuggets shooting guard Christian Braun is coming out on top with an extremely impressive index score of 96.4 out of 100. Receiving the highest scores for average monthly searches (121,000), Wikipedia page views (163,000), follower growth (58,200), and social media mentions (19,000), it’s no surprise he’s Kansas’ most popular sports star.
In second is another NBA player, this time it’s Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade with a score of 37.1. Like Braun, Wade receives strong scores for monthly searches (45,000), Wikipedia page views (65,000), and social media mentions (15,000) although he does rank low down for positive sentiment with only 1 in 10 posts online about him (11.7%) considered favorable.
Jabari Walker, power forward for the Portland Trail Blazers, finds himself in third place with a score of 29.3. Rounding out the top five is Super Bowl LIV champion Blake Bell (23.2) who plays for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs followed closely by offensive guard for the Baltimore Ravens, Ben Powers (14.7).
Below is a table showing Kansas’ top 10 most popular sports stars:
| Position | Player | Index score |
| 1 | Christian Braun | 96.4 |
| 2 | Dean Wade | 37.1 |
| 3 | Jabari Walker | 29.3 |
| 4 | Blake Bell | 23.2 |
| 5 | Ben Powers | 14.7 |
| 6 | John Means | 14.6 |
| 7 | Braden Smith | 13.5 |
| 8 | Maliek Collins | 8.3 |
| 9 | Garrett Cleavinger | 5.7 |
| 10 | Joey Wentz | 5 |
To find out more about the research, please visit: https://www.betkansas.com/news/who-were-the-most-popular-athletes-of-2022-from-kansas
