Study: Which NBA Fans Lose the Most Sleep Over a Loss?

Written By Nick Crain | Last Updated at November 18, 2025

Almost one in three basketball fans in the U.S. have trouble sleeping when their favorite team isn’t doing well. That’s according to a survey by The Lines of 2,000 NBA fans nationwide. With the NBA season well underway, fans better brace themselves: they lose an average of 52 minutes of sleep after a disappointing performance by their team.

Key findings:

Dribble to bed a bit disappointed after your basketball heroes flop on the court, only to find you can’t fall asleep? That’s frustrating! But maybe not as surprising as you’d think: 31% of basketball fans across the country deal with this. While the average basketball fan lies awake for 52 minutes, there are some notable differences between fanbases.

More Than Half of Nets Fans Lose Sleep Over Their Team

When it comes to the percentage of NBA fans who sleep worse after a disappointing game, Brooklyn Nets fans top the list. More than half of them, 57%, struggle with insomnia after a poor performance, lying awake for an average of 54 minutes. The next highest? Orlando Magic fans: 45% of them have restless nights when their team underperforms, losing an average of 63 minutes of sleep. Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks fans share third place, with 44% of their supporters tossing and turning after a letdown, averaging 42 and 45 minutes awake, respectively.

Pelicans Fans Lie Awake the Longest After a Bad Game

But which fans stay up the longest? That dubious honor goes to the New Orleans Pelicans. When their team disappoints, they lose an average of 73 minutes of sleep. That’s just ahead of San Antonio Spurs fans and Houston Rockets supporters, who average 72 and 70 minutes of tossing and turning, respectively, putting them in second and third place.

Which NBA Fans Are Least Affected by Sleeplessness

Luckily, some fans drift off peacefully the moment their head hits the pillow, bad game or not. Sacramento Kings fans are the least affected by this kind of sports-related insomnia. Only 15% of them say they sleep worse after a disappointing game — the lowest percentage among all NBA fanbases. That said, they don’t lose the least amount of sleep: on average, they lose 56 minutes. The honor for the shortest sleep disruption goes to Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves fans, who toss and turn for just 35 minutes on average after a poor performance by their team.

Methodology

The Lines’ 2025 NBA Insomnia Study, commissioned by The Lines and conducted in October 2025, surveyed 2,000 U.S. basketball fans nationwide to examine how disappointing NBA team performances affect sleep quality. Participants reported their favorite team, whether a poor performance ever disrupted their sleep, and, if so, for how long on average. The sample was 62% male, 37% female, and 1% non-binary, with an average age of 41.7 years.