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Cardboard cheering sections for 2020 top athletes

These days, the only fans allowed in the building at pro sporting events are virtual or cardboard.

If the 2020 newsmakers listed below could pick the cardboard cutouts in their personal cheering sections, some famous faces would probably be among them.

LeBron James

Even before LeBron James moved to La La Land and began playing in front of celebrities every home game, he had a history of playing his best in front of his most famous fans:

Jay-Z and Beyoncé: The Undefeated's Justin Tinsley analyzed box scores from games throughout James' career for which celebrities were present and found that James won a lot, especially in front of Jay-Z (19-11 from 2003 to '17).
Chris Bosh: James and Bosh won back-to-back titles together in 2012 and '13. 
Amy Schumer: James made his big-screen debut in "Trainwreck," which Schumer wrote and starred in.
Jack Nicholson: The Oscar winner is one of the Los Angeles Lakers' most dedicated celebrity fans. James went 6-1 in front of Nicholson before coming to L.A.
Dwyane Wade: James' former teammate and best buddy can't be left out. 

Sabrina Ionescu

The No. 1 pick in the this year's WNBA draft got off to a solid start to her rookie season but suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain in her third game with the New York Liberty. When she returns, these folks will surely be watching.

Kelly Graves: The Oregon head coach oversaw Ionescu's record-breaking college career.
Satou Sabally: Ionescu faced off against her former Oregon teammate in the second game of her WNBA career.
Phil Knight: The Nike co-founder and Oregon booster inked Ionescu to an apparel deal that will make her the first WNBA player with a signature shoe.
Damian Lillard: The Portland Trail Blazers guard and fellow Oregon hero was one of several NBA players who texted Ionescu after her WNBA debut last week.
Stephen Curry: The Golden State Warriors guard dubbed Ionescu the "walking double-double" and brought his daughters to watch her play in a game at Stanford last year.
Nadia Comaneci: Ionescu is one of the most famous athletes of Romanian descent since Comaneci, a five-time Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics.

Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady

New England sports fans got to know Gronk and Brady well over the past decade. The two have moved on to play together in Tampa Bay, but there's no doubt that they made fans for life out of these stars: 

Related: Historians remember football in a previous pandemic

Ben Affleck: The longtime Boston sports guy has never been shy about his belief that Brady is the greatest football player of all time. The two have been friends since Brady's early days in New England. Affleck told Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year: "There's not a lot I wouldn't do for Tommy."
UGG: Brady has been a proud brand ambassador for UGGs for a long time. "I've been wearing the slippers since I was 13 or 14 years old, when I got my first pair that my mom bought me," he told USA Today in 2016. "And I've been wearing them ever since."
Maria Menounos: Another Boston-area native, Menounos has called herself a die-hard Brady fan. She has worked out at the TB12 Sports Therapy Center at Patriot Place and embraced the TB12 Method of exercise. 
Venus Williams: Gronkowski and Williams, members of two very athletic and competitive sports families, captain teams on the CBS competition show "Game On."
Mark Wahlberg: Wahlberg has in the past claimed to be Brady's favorite celebrity fan, and maybe that's true. In 2018, Brady said he'd want Wahlberg to play him in a movie about his life.

Serena Williams

It's pretty rare that there isn't a famous face in the crowd when Williams plays in a Grand Slam. 

La La Anthony: Williams and Anthony are close friends. Anthony has rooted for Williams from her family box at multiple US Opens.
Drake: The rapper revealed last year that his 2015 hit "Back to Back" was inspired by Williams' back-and-forth rivalry with Maria Sharapova. 
Anna Wintour:
The legendary Vogue editor and tennis fan has been seen in Williams' family box at several majors. Wintour helped Williams find a dress for her wedding, at which Wintour was a guest. 
Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex flew across the pond to New York for one day to watch her longtime friend play in the US Open. 
Beyoncé: Williams appeared in Beyoncé's video for "Sorry" on the "Lemonade" visual album. "I have known the director since I was, like, 9 years old," Williams told the AP. "I know Beyoncé pretty well, so they were like, 'We would love for you to be in this particular song. It's about strength, and it's about courage, and that's what we see you as.'"
Caroline Wozniacki: Williams and Wozniacki have battled on the court and are good friends off of it. Wozniacki walked in Williams' S for Serena show at New York Fashion Week earlier this year.

Patrick Mahomes

The Kansas City Chiefs have more famous fans than you might think, and, of course, those fans love their Super Bowl-winning quarterback. 

Eric Stonestreet: The "Modern Family" actor and Kansas City, Kansas, native is a huge Chiefs fan. He celebrated with the team in Miami after Mahomes led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory earlier this year.
LaTroy Hawkins: The former MLB relief pitcher is Mahomes' godfather. 
Kliff Kingsbury: He's the Arizona Cardinals head coach now, but from 2014 to 2016, he was Mahomes' head coach at Texas Tech, where the QB set the FBS passing yards record in 2016. 
Rob Riggle:
Mahomes and Riggle, another native of the Kansas City area, played golf together at the American Century Championship earlier this summer. Mahomes bet Riggle $2,500 for charity that he'd have the better score, and he did. 
Melissa Etheridge: Prior to the Super Bowl, Etheridge wrote a song for the Chiefs that contained the lyric, "I've seen the closest thing to Superman this girl has ever known. We traded up in '17 for the greatest, Pat Mahomes."
Paul Rudd: Mahomes won the MVP award in his second season in the league, and die-hard Chiefs fan Rudd announced it at the NFL Honors by revealing Mahomes' name and number on the back of his suit jacket. 

Simone Biles

The world was introduced to one of the greatest athletes of all time at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and the world has been in awe ever since. 

Zac Efron: Biles revealed a crush on Efron on Twitter in 2013. In 2016, Ellen DeGeneres gave Biles a leotard with Efron's face on it. After a series of supportive tweets from Efron, the two finally met when he showed up in Rio to surprise Biles. 
Samuel L. Jackson: If there is a bigger Olympics fan than Jackson, we don't know them. Biles was a favorite of Jackson's live Twitter commentary during Rio 2016.
Allyson Felix: Biles is the most decorated gymnast in world championship history, and Felix is the most decorated athlete in World Athletics Championships history.
French bulldog: Biles' French bulldogs, Lilo and Rambo, have 39,000 followers on Instagram.
J.J. Watt: Houston's favorite athletes, Watt and Biles, have each thrown out the first pitch for an Astros World Series game, but only Biles did a backflip afterward. 

Photos from AP Photo and Getty Images.

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