Lakers News: LA Tops Team Merchandise Sales Despite Slow Start

The league's premiere franchise remains tops in merchandise.

The midseason results are in, and it looks like your Los Angeles Lakers have the bestselling merchandise on the league's official online retailer, NBAStore.com, according to a new press release.

Despite being the 13th seed in their own conference, the Lakers remain exceedingly popular almost regardless of their current on-court achievements, or lack thereof, in the first of half of the 2022-23 NBA season. 

The reigning league champs, the Golden State Warriors, are right behind the Lakers as the No. 2 sellers on NBAStore.com, followed by the 2022 Finals runners-up, the Boston Celtics. The 2021 title-winning Milwaukee Bucks and the six-time world champion Chicago Bulls round out the top five. In a somewhat surprising turn, the Brooklyn Nets (No. 8) are currently outflanking the New York Knicks in sales (No. 10) in the country's top media market. 

The Nets are usually considered the East Coast equivalent of the Los Angeles Clippers -- the perennial second team, little-brother franchise, no matter who is wearing their jerseys. Of course, the Nets happen to have Kevin Durant (who has the fifth-bestselling individual jersey this year) and Kyrie Irving (who has the 15th-bestselling jersey, despite being something of a nutcase), two of the most popular stars in the league today. Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle just don't have their same star wattage.

The Clippers, by the way, despite fielding a club with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and having a better record than their Crypto.com Arena neighbors, didn't even crack the top 10 thus far this year.

The NBA and NBPA today jointly announced that the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and the Los Angeles Lakers secured the top spots on the NBA’s Most Popular Jersey and Team Merchandise lists, respectively.

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— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 20, 2023