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My version of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ championship begins nine days before anyone ever sprayed champagne or raised the trophy for the first time. In the back corner of the Cavs’ locker room, in the moments following a disheartening Game 4 loss to the Golden State Warriors to fall behind 3-1 in the series, Kevin Love…

We probably need to talk about LeBron James. James and the Lakers are in the middle of their exclusive negotiating window, but there still aren’t many clear answers about what comes next. He appears likely to play a 24th NBA season, yet questions remain about his future. Will he stay in Los Angeles? Or will…

They are known, now, by many in the analytics crowd, as “apex predators.” Yes, it’s a lift from the animal world. Think orcas or lions or polar bears. They have no natural enemies, because who would be stupid enough to take on a killer whale that has home-ocean advantage? In the NBA, it refers to…

New Yorkers, Zohran Mamdani knows how long you have waited for this moment. The New York mayor spoke to 53 years of pain, angst, frustration, patience, and, at last, vindication during his speech in front of City Hall after the Knicks’ championship parade Thursday. He spoke to a city that waited generations — in each…

It’s the question NBA fans want answered: Who will the Washington Wizards draft at No. 1: BYU wing AJ Dybantsa or Kansas guard Darryn Peterson? To break down each prospect’s game and how each would fit with Washington, The Athletic has brought together NBA draft analyst Sam Vecenie and Wizards beat writer Josh Robbins for…

Remember when, during a 2023 episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today,” Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon infamously said Jalen Brunson was not a “1A dude” and that he was too small to be the leader of a championship-winning team? On Thursday, Brunson delivered his rebuttal from the podium at the New York Knicks’ championship parade…

The Bounce Newsletter  | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. On this date in 1984, Ndudi Ebi was born. Why is that significant? Well, as we await the decision from the league’s investigation into the Clippers’ alleged cap circumvention, Ebi was once a part of the…

Perhaps not many NBA observers thought the New York Knicks would win a championship this season, but owner James Dolan certainly did. Whatever you might think of the guy, you have to give him credit for having the guts to fire Tom Thibodeau after a trip to the Eastern Conference finals, thinking he needed a…

Call it “The Great Unspooling.” This year’s NBA Draft is top-heavy. So heavy it would fall over in a stiff breeze. There isn’t a singular, obvious, potentially generational player to take with the top pick this year, like there was in 2019 (Zion Williamson), 2023 (Victor Wembanyama) or 2025 (Cooper Flagg). There are, though, a…

The 2026 NBA Draft is less than a week away, and the intel from sources trying to figure out what teams will do on Tuesday is starting to flow. This draft is considered a strong one at the top and throughout the lottery, although withdrawals of college players lured by NIL riches have substantially hindered…