Spurred Again

Houston lags behind San Antonio and Dallas on list of best cities for basketball fans

San Antonio Spurs Houston Rockets Manu Ginobli James Harden

Seems like the Spurs have had the Rockets' number lately.

A few weeks after the Spurs bumped the Houston Rockets out of the NBA playoffs, San Antonio has scored again. WalletHub just ranked the Alamo City as the No. 4 best place in the nation for basketball fans while Houston lags behind.

The financial website analyzed the largest U.S. cities based on a host of factors, including the number of NBA and NCAA Division 1 teams and their performance level, fan engagement, and more.

Houston ranks No. 18 out of the 293 cities surveyed. The Rockets stellar season-long performance came in fourth among all NBA teams, according to the survey, but the overall ranking was dragged down by NBA attendance (No. 14) and NBA fan engagement (No. 24). Add in the poor performance of Houston college basketball teams (No. 192 in performance level among all NCAA Division 1 teams and No. 276 in college basketball stadium capacity), and it's surprising Houston doesn't rank lower in the overall survey.

San Antonio slipped one spot from last year, but basketball fans there have a lot to be proud of. The Spurs have the second highest performance level among all NBA teams, winning 74.8 percent of their games over the last three seasons. Additionally, the franchise is worth a whopping $1.18 billion, the 10th most valuable in the league.

Even more impressive? WalletHub declares the Spurs the most popular team in the nation.

San Antonio doesn't score so hot on the college court, due to the poor performance level of the University of Texas San Antonio Roadrunners and the Incarnate Word Cardinals.

On the overall list, Los Angeles (home to the Lakers, Clippers, and three Division 1 college teams) takes the No. 1 spot, followed by Boston at No. 2 and Oakland at No. 3. Dallas slides in at No. 11.

sports rankings reports wallethub

this week's hot headlines

Legendary Houston writer's passing, Katy restaurant boom, and spacey new Montrose bar lead week's top stories

John Nova Lomax/Facebook

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Editor's note: It's time to recap the top stories on CultureMap from this past week.

1. Booming Katy development adds 5 grand new restaurants serving boba, Korean BBQ, giant pizzas, and more. They’ll join a number of destination-worthy tenants including hot pot restaurant HaiDiLao and dim sum favorite Tim Ho Wan.

2. 3 Houston-area counties among the top 10 most expensive to live in Texas, report says. Since these are also some of the state's wealthiest counties, it's also easier to pay those bills.

3. Farewell to John Nova Lomax: Remembering a wise and witty wordsmith and consummate Houstonian. Born to spin a yarn, Lomax deftly and superbly chronicled the weird gumbo that is life in Houston.

4. Dynamic duo behind Nobie's and Toasted Coconut bake up new tavern-style pizza restaurant in Montrose. The pizzeria will serve the Midwestern-style tavern pizza that’s popular in Chicago, the city where the couple met.

Roswell's Saloon Houston Space cowgirls and cowboys are welcome at Roswell's Saloon. Photo by Becca Wright

5. Spacey new bar and cosmic cocktail spot from Burger Joint owner blasts off in Montrose. Since all of the lighting is either blacklight or neon, Bermudez made sure all of the floors, walls, and bartops are UV-reactive.

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