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Survey names San Antonio Spurs Coyote among worst NBA mascots

Mascots ranking higher than the coyote include a deer humanoid cryptid and a flame with arms and legs.

By Michael Karlis on Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 10:06 am

Instagram / spurscoyote

The Spurs Coyote has entertained San Antonio since 1983.

Even though San Antonians have a soft spot for the Spurs Coyote's googly green eyes and boundless energy, a new survey named the beloved character among the worst NBA mascots.

The Coyote ranked as the seventh-worst mascot in the league, according to a poll conducted by New Jersey-based online sports betting platform NJ.BET. To compile its rankings, NJ.BET surveyed 900 NBA fans across the country, many of whom were unkind to our Coyote.

click to enlarge

Instagram / burniemiamiheat

The Miami Heat's mascot, Burnie the Flame, was ranked as a better mascot than the Spurs Coyote.

In the survey, the Coyote even ranked lower that frequently mocked Bango, the Milwaukee Bucks' humanoid deer cryptid, and similarly silly Burnie the Flame, the Miami Heat mascot, which according to the NBA's website, is a walking flame with arms and legs.

Still, those surveyed agreed that the Coyote is better than the Dallas Mavericks' mascot — a robot-human-basketball-hybrid named Mavs Man who was named the league's worst mascot.

click to enlarge

Instagram / tituslambitz

Mavs Man, a robot-human-basketball-hybrid, was named the worst mascot in the NBA.

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About The Author

Michael Karlis

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Michael Karlis is a Staff Writer at the San Antonio Current. He is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., whose work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Orlando Weekly, NewsBreak, 420 Magazine and Mexico Travel Today. He reports primarily on breaking news, politics...