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The Player That Everyone Hates 🏀⛹️| share and follow 🏀⛹️ artwork

The Player That Everyone Hates 🏀⛹️| share and follow 🏀⛹️

Basketball Daily Brief | NBA Uncovered

November 14, 2026

Why does everyone seem to hate this basketball player? 🏀😳 From controversial moments and heated rivalries to unforgettable performances, discover the story behind one of the NBA’s most hated players. Is he really the villain, or is he simply misunderstood?

Speakers Steve Kerr, Brandon Podziemski, Stephen Curry

TopicsBasketballSports

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Everybody hates B-Pods, and I can't figure out why.

Because usually, NBA fans have a reason. Jalen Green and Jordan Poole, painful to watch. Ben Simmons and DeAndre Ayton have all the talent in the world, haven't used it. Miles Bridges pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence, then got $75 million.

Hate them, they earned it. But B-Pods, he's an analytics darling. He does the dirty work, and meshes with any star you put next to him. His whole roster loves playing with him. And yet, even a loud chunk of his own fanbase fucking hates him, dude. The way he breathes is annoying. The way he rolls out of bed ruffles some feathers. Season ticket holders are furious he's taken up their oxygen when he's on the floor. And I'll be honest, I don't with B-Pods either. Shocking, I know, but I couldn't tell you why.

So I pulled the rap sheets, some cringey sound bites, and he chews his mouth guard like he's Steph Curry. Uh, that's it. So I went through every hate take, every clip, and every stat to find out, did B-Pods earn this, or did we all just get played by Twitter propaganda?

All right, case file, I've got a corkboard, I've got a red string. I've never been more prepared for anything in my life. This is the YouTuber starter kit.

No vibes, no tweets, a timeline. Every time the internet got mad at Brandon Pajemski. I'm logging what happened and scoring two things. How much hate he got and how much of it he actually earned, because Pods himself says whenever people rip him, there's never any numbers to back it up. Okay, let's go get those numbers, Pods. Now, Brandon Pajemski from Greenfield, Wisconsin. He doesn't even play basketball until eighth grade because baseball got too easy. Write that down, it comes back later. Once he picks up basketball, Wisconsin's in trouble. Over three seasons at St. John's Northwestern, he drops 2,154 points. He averages 35 as a senior and wins Mr. Basketball. Then he gets to Illinois and doesn't do shit. 22 points all season. Some nights he's crying alone in his dorm room, so he transfers to Santa Clara. Goes from barely a point a game to nearly 20, and ties Drew Timmy for Conference Player of the Year.

June, 2023 The Warriors take him 19th, the same night they trade Jordan Poole for Chris Paul.

Everybody's talking about Poole. The Scouts say Pods has a short wingspan and no first step. Nobody's mad. In fact, nobody's even looking. This is a man with a weird wingspan and a dream. His hate level was basically zero. The year won, and this is the problem. He's good. He wins the entire NBA in charges drawn per game. 38 on the year, including one on Jokic, Embiid, and Anthony Davis.

Over one six-game stretch, he racks up 41 assists with only four turnovers, which no rookie had done since 1987

By the end of the year, the Warriors outscore opponents by 264 points with him on the floor. Best on the team. That's 75 points better than Steph Curry. He's also only 20 years old, and he tells reporters that when Steph retires, it's his job to carry on what Steph does. Steph, meanwhile, calls him the annoying little brother who asks questions all the time. So it's a vibe. Then, February 15th, 2024 in Utah, Curry starts Pods and sends Clay Thompson to the bench for the first time since 2012

Clay drops 35 off the bench and the Warriors win, and everybody should be happy. Instead, Warriors Twitter learns a new sentence. Pods took Clay's spot on the team. Never mind that Curry made the lineup. Never mind that the starting five with Pods in it was the best unit the team had. And never mind that Pods had been playing more fourth quarter minutes than Steph and Clay. Curry's entire explanation, BP connects the team better than anybody else.

In April, Clay goes for 10 in a play-in loss to Sacramento. That summer, he walks to Dallas on a three-year $50 million deal. And the internet needs somebody to blame. Pods is 21 years old, and he's standing right there. His hate reached level 2, deserved 1 And the 1 is for that Steff quote. What the fuck were you thinking, Pods?

Year 2 and the hate finds new storyline. Jonathan Kaminga, seventh overall pick and athletic freak.

Scores when the Warriors let him, and the Warriors keep not letting him. The seeds go back to January 2024, when Curse hits Kaminga down the stretch against Denver, and the Warriors blow a double-digit lead, and Jokic beats them at the buzzer.

Soon after, there's a report that Kaminga has lost faith in Curr, and Warriors Twitter does what it does. It looks for the nearest face. Not Curr's, the rookies. Now, here's where the Golden Child crowd never mentions. December 2024, Curr rips Pods in a post-game press conference after a loss to Denver. Careless turnover, fouling jump shooters, the works. He could not be that guy, Curse says. That's not how you treat a Golden Child.

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