Every spring, the fate of NBA franchises comes down to a bunch of ping-pong balls bouncing in a machine. The draft lottery decides which struggling teams get the first crack at the next generation of stars, and it is designed to keep teams from simply losing on purpose to land the top pick. So how … Read more
In the NBA, banners are forever. A single championship can define a franchise for decades, and a collection of them builds a dynasty that echoes through the history of the league. For more than 75 years, two storied franchises have stood far above the rest, while a handful of others have built their own impressive … Read more
It looks like the best seat in the house. You are courtside for every game, a few feet from the biggest stars in basketball, and you are technically on the payroll of an NBA team. So it is no surprise that one of the most searched questions about life around the league is a simple … Read more
There is no stage in basketball brighter than the NBA Finals, which is what makes a comeback there feel almost impossible. The defense tightens, every possession is scrutinized, and a big lead is supposed to be safe. So when a team claws back from 20 or more points down on this stage, it becomes instant … Read more
An NBA arena on a packed night is one of the loudest, most electric places in sports. But not every building holds the same crowd. The gap between the league’s largest arena and its smallest is more than 4,000 seats, which is the difference between a cavernous big-market house and a tighter, louder room. So … Read more
Walk into any sporting goods store and you will find basketballs in at least four different sizes, each meant for a different age. Hand a six-year-old a full-size men’s ball and they physically cannot shoot it with proper form, which builds bad habits that are hard to fix later. So which size does a 9-year-old … Read more
Here’s a stat that captures how lopsided NBA history really is: of the 79 championships handed out since 1947, more than half belong to just five franchises. The Celtics and Lakers alone have combined for 35 titles — and yet right now, the league is in the middle of the longest run of different champions … Read more
The NBA Finals MVP award, given since 1969 and now named the Bill Russell Trophy, goes to the standout performer of the championship series. Michael Jordan holds the record with six, all won with the Chicago Bulls, followed by LeBron James with four. Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Duncan each won three. The most … Read more
The most valuable basketball card ever sold is the 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Dual Logoman featuring autographs and game-worn jersey patches of both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. The 1-of-1 card sold for $12.932 million at Heritage Auctions on August 23, 2025 — Kobe Bryant’s birthday — and became the most expensive sports card of … Read more
Basketball is one of the few sports where the playing surface looks roughly the same at every level — same hoop height, same general layout, same painted areas. But “roughly” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The actual dimensions of a basketball court vary significantly between the NBA, college, high school, FIBA, … Read more