On Wednesday, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry hosted the annual ESPY awards, and he threw some shade at Miami sports fans.
Curry claimed that such fans leave games early, which is sure to ruffle the collective feathers of South Florida.
Miami (and Los Angeles) have been stereotyped as cities with nothing but fairweather fans who never live and die with their teams and lack any real type of passion for them.
However, the Miami Heat, as do all NBA teams, have their fair share of hardcore supporters who, if anything, revolve their everyday lives around their team’s games.
According to ESPN, Miami actually ranked fourth in NBA home attendance per game at 19,628 this past season, which is evidence that South Florida, in general, is hot for the Heat.
In 2020, the year they went to the NBA Finals right after acquiring Jimmy Butler, they also ranked fourth in home attendance.
A key reason for the team’s outstanding turnout at FTX Arena is the championship-caliber culture that head coach Erik Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley have carefully crafted over the years.
That culture has allowed the Heat to arguably overachieve and become greater than the sum of their parts.
With Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, a former teammate of Curry, reportedly on the market, Miami has let it be known that it is seriously interested in acquiring him.
Landing Durant could perhaps catapult the team to the top of the NBA’s attendance rankings.