Just when you thought competitive balance in the NBA couldn’t be worse, the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors swooped in Monday night, stole the thunder from LeBron James’s coronation in Los Angeles and signed DeMarcus Cousins (the best big man still available in free agency) for well below market value. Now, what already felt […]
LeBron James in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform used to be the stuff of fan photoshops and NBA 2K’s franchise mode. But now it has become reality, after the announcement Sunday night that James is signing a four-year, $153 million free-agent contract with L.A. It might be jarring at first to see James in Lakers […]
Love them or hate them, the Los Angeles Lakers long represented the closest thing the NBA had to a proverbial land of milk and honey. For the better part of three decades, the club often had a surplus of star players, a robust record, and the occasional championship trophy. Then they were hit with what […]
Just in time for the NBA’s free agent bonanza (headlined by LeBron James’s The Decision: Part III), FiveThirtyEight has re-launched CARMELO, our NBA player projection system, with forecasts for 2018-19 and beyond. The basics of the system are largely similar to previous years, with the backbone of CARMELO remaining an algorithm that compares current players […]
The NBA draft is a time for optimism, the launching pad for 60 pro careers full of aspirations of championships and star-making moments. In reality, though, only a couple will likely become stars; many more will become key role players, while others will barely sniff the league. Here are the biggest questions about those future […]