Evan Turner: The Backstreet Boys Are Better Than ‘N Sync

Contrary to popular belief, there is such a thing as an NBA player that doesn’t limit his music selection to Drake, Ross and Meek Mill. Matt Barnes might stick to 2Pac for his pregame routine, but the Sixers’ Evan Turner has slightly different tastes. Recently, he finally settled the long-time debate: the Backstreet Boys were, in fact, better than ‘N Sync.

We’ve seen the crazy side of Turner before, from pranking the Sixer rookies to appearing on game shows. Even his Li-Ning All-Star Weekend Player Exclusives were way out there. But we didn’t know he was so knowledgeable when it came to two of the most popular boy bands ever.

In an interview with “The 700 Level” in Philly, Turner was asked about the two boy bands. Here’s his response:

I see you guys on Twitter a lot—I saw that you and Spence over the summer were having an argument between who was better, the Backstreet Boys or N Sync. Care to stick up for your guys a little bit?

Yeah, the Backstreet Boys? They just made album after album. Hits, you know. ‘N Sync only had…what was it…it wasn’t Celebrity, it was No Strings Attached. Which was amazing from front to back. And then Celebrity was just overrated. And then Backstreet Boys, they been going hard with Millennium, you know, Black and Blue and all that stuff, so they been on top for a while. They still make music today! They’re like a white Boyz II Men.

Were you a big TRL fan back in the day?

Yeah, that was crazy! Carson Daly and stuff? That was back when pop music was crazy, you know what I’m saying? You had Christina, Britney, 98 Degrees, all those people. Tom Green, at one time he went #1, with the Bum Bum Song? That stuff was dope!

Turner admits he’s more into hip-hop nowadays, and was asked in the interview with “The 700 Level” which album he liked the most out of Take Care, Watch The Throne and Carter IV. He didn’t really give a definitive answer but believes he can relate to Drake more. He also said, “I listen to everybody, man. I listen to old school. I still pop in old school Jay, old school Em, I listen to Common, Big Sean, Drake…”

It’s always interesting bringing up music around NBA cats just because so many of them are basically programmed to love the same stuff. I’ve never interviewed a player who surprised me with some off-the-wall musical choice. It hasn’t happened yet. But I’m still searching.

When I hung out with Steve Nash earlier this year, I took it as the perfect opportunity to get a read on the NBA’s musical pulse. You’d assume Nash might be one of those guys who’s a free spirit, trying out all different kinds of music right? Right. He said he listens to pretty much everything, from rap to classic rock to international music.

He also surprised me and admitted there’s a percentage of players in the league who don’t really listen to hip-hop. I guess now we can name Evan Turner as one of the few who doesn’t have a problem switching it up.

Who do you think was better: the Backstreet Boys or N Sync?

Follow Sean on Twitter at @SEANesweeney.

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