This year disrupted the sports world like no other in modern history. First, the COVID-19 pandemic shut sports down almost completely in the spring and early summer; then, it dramatically altered the schedules and formats of most leagues when they did return. The NBA and WNBA played their postseasons in neutral-site bubbles, for instance, while […]
We know which athletes are great, but we know less about what makes them great. To help, FiveThirtyEight is compiling The Greatness Files, a compendium of, well, what makes great athletes great. First up, a rising star named LeBron James. This is not another LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan article. Whenever LeBron reaches another NBA […]
Although it seems like the 2019-20 NBA season just ended — the Los Angeles Lakers lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy a scant 68 days ago — the 2020-21 NBA season is set to begin on Tuesday, with primetime showdowns featuring the rebuilt Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors and another installment of the intracity L.A. […]
Think back to last summer, when the teams that had just played for an NBA title were hit with one bombshell move after another in free agency. The first bolt of lightning struck instantly, when two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant said he’d be leaving the runner-up Golden State Warriors to join Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn. […]
Between a relatively unpredictable draft conducted remotely and free agency opening a mere 48 hours later — in November, no less — this was already sure to go down as one of the stranger weeks in the NBA’s 74-year history. Now that we’ve finally made it here, we might as well fully embrace the weirdness […]