A celebration of basketball by way of the 100 greatest players to ever grace the court in the history of the NBA—from The Athletic’s foremost basketball writers and analysts the game has to offer. With a foreword by Charles Barkley.Over the course of 100 luminous player profiles, the best sports newsroom on the planet paints vivid portraits of the game’s most compelling characters. There’s George Mikan, who was cut from his high school team because he wore glasses, then went on to ...

A celebration of basketball by way of the 100 greatest players to ever grace the court in the history of the NBA—from The Athletic’s foremost basketball writers and analysts the game has to offer. With a foreword by Charles Barkley.Over the course of 100 luminous player profiles, the best sports newsroom on the planet paints vivid portraits of the game’s most compelling characters. There’s George Mikan, who was cut from his high school team because he wore glasses,...

A masterful ode to America’s game—and an unforgettable portrait of its greatest legends written by America’s best sportswriters.It is a question that has bedeviled football fans for generations: Who’s the best? Of the more than 25,000 men who have suited up during the NFL’s century of existence, which ones stood head and shoulders above all others?At The Athletic, home to the best newsroom in sports, this question would become a labor of love for d...

A celebration of the beautiful game and its 100 greatest players, from the pre–World War II exploits of Dixie Dean to the modern-day genius of Kylian Mbappé and Lionel MessiThese players left legacies, redefined the game with trademark skills, and grew into national icons. They have their stats—the goals, the wins, the trophies—but, more importantly, they have their stories.One World Cup winner owned a nightclub that briefly transformed a corner of industri...

In the wake of The Athletic’s popular Football 100, Basketball 100, and Soccer 100, the world’s leading authority on sports reporting presents The Hockey 100—the comprehensive ranking and in-depth stories behind the 100 most accomplished hockey players to ever slap the puck.Ice hockey is a sport like no other. It requires its players to master the majestic finesse of figure skating, the brutal hits of football, the goaltending an...

How did WrestleMania III legitimize wrestling as entertainment and reshape the industry? Greenberg lays it bare and offers insights into WWE's evolution and WrestleMania's lasting impactOn an overcast day in 1987, the pro wrestling landscape was altered forever when a reported 93,173 fans converged on the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit to see Hulk Hogan defend his championship against André the Giant. For several years, Vincent Kennedy McMahon...

The life and legacy of pioneering international basketball superstar Hakeem Olajuwon, a two time NBA champion whose Hall of Fame career forever changed the game, both in the United States and around the globe—from the New York Times bestselling author of Giannis.It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. The Olympics are no longer a gimme for Team USA. Both via fans streaming from all over t...

The captivating inside story of the historic 2018 Boston Red Sox, as told through the assembly and ascendancy of their talented young core—the culmination of nearly a decade of reporting from one of the most respected baseball writers in the country.The 2018 season was a coronation for the Boston Red Sox. The best team in Major League Baseball—indeed, one of the best teams ever—the Sox won 108 regular season games and then romped through the postseason, going 11-3 ...

An NFL insider’s explosive account of the ruthless power struggles between owners and players over the future of football.During his fourteen years as the head of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith was a front line advocate for football players through some of the most tumultuous crises in NFL history: Colin Kaepernick’s protests, Deflategate, a lockout, two collective bargaining agreements, and more. But after witnessing the league’s troubling response t...

**AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLERThe must-read memoir of one of the NHL's most controversial and successful coaches—winner of the 1994 Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers.**In the fraternity of NHL coaches, some stand out for their winning records, some for their big personalities and some for their unprecedented methods. Mike Keenan stands out on all these counts, and more.Breaking into the NHL as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984, Keenan got instant re...

The inside story of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 through 2004, when Kobe Bryant and ShaquilleO’Neal combined—and collided—to help bring the Lakers three straight championships and restore the teamas a powerhouse franchiseIn modern sports, there have never been two superstar teammates who loathed one another the way Shaq loathedKobe and Kobe loathed Shaq. There was whispered—and outspoken—sniping and sparring. Taunts. Physicalaltercations. The recurri...

Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century. Their “Miracle on Ice” has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after. It is still u...