This Thursday (16th) sees the first big game in the UK of the year, with Atlanta Hawks taking on the Brooklyn Nets at the London O2.  After the success of the recent games here and the obvious appetite for the NBA, this should translate to social media success as well you would think?

But… things are not always as they appear.  The NBA has a large Facebook page (19m) with over 219k of those fans based here in the UK.  But the NBA UK page, which is supposed to provide for fans over here and promote these games, is only creeping above 33k.  The following on social media and the speed at which the games sell out (quickly) certainly show some differences.

The two teams who are travelling over are not going to be the most recognisable to UK fans.  In terms of pure fan numbers, the Nets have 6k UK fans on their page whilst the Hawks have only 2k.  Some way behind when it comes to fans and the amount of conversation enjoyed by the likes of Miami Heat and LA Lakers.

A deeper look at the teams and the UK series will be on here tomorrow.  But for now here is the great infographic put together by Ash Read and the guys at We Play.  You should also check out the full #NBAUKreport released by We Play recently.