Yeah but teens/adults won’t. Kind of like John Cena.
Removing white people from the equation, The most likeable athletes all had/have that cool/bad ass factor:
Deion
Vick
AI
Vince Carter
Kobe
Cam
Vince Young
Randy Moss
Even Bron at times
Likeable and culturally cool are too diff things
Hella black ppl from my era 1000% did NOT ever like Kobe, LeBron, Cam - they were polarizing AF
AI, Vick & Randy had the youth on lock but not the adults
The most universally liked by us I gotta say was Prime
But the most universally liked period I think was Barry Sanders, Bo Jackson and probably Magic - actually Magic may be the GOAT most likable with Bo Jackson a close second
For the whites I actually have to say Joe Montana, Chris Mullin & Brett Favre (crazy he ruined that smh)