From a former college basketball player and Executive at Nike, a "riveting" (Sports Illustrated) insider's account into the business of college basketball exposes the corrupt and racist systems that exploit young athletes and offers a new way forwardFor Merl Code, basketball was life.In college he played point guard for Clemson before turning pro. Later, when he pivoted to marketing, he found himself thrust into a startling world of profit-driven c...

From a former college basketball player and Executive at Nike, a "riveting" (Sports Illustrated) insider's account into the business of college basketball exposes the corrupt and racist systems that exploit young athletes and offers a new way forwardFor Merl Code, basketball was life.In college he played point guard for Clemson before turning pro. Later, when he pivoted to marketing, he found himself thrust into a startling world of profit-driven c...

*A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2022*The definitive biography of Charles Barkley, exploring his early childhood, his storied NBA career, and his enduring legacy as a provocative voice in American pop cultureHe’s one of the most interesting American athletes in the past fifty years. Passionate, candid, iconoclastic, and gifted both on and off the court, Charles Barkley has made a lasting impact on not only the world of basketball...

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 definitive biography of Steve Kerr, the championship-winning basketball player and head coach of the record-breaking Golden State WarriorsFew individuals have had a career as storied, and improbable, as Steve Kerr. He has won eight NBA titles—five as a player and three as a coach—for three different franchises. He played alongside the best players of a generation, from Michael Jordan to Shaquille O’Neal to Tim Duncan, and learned the craft of basketball...

A singular, transcendent talent can change the fortunes of a basketball franchise faster than in any other sport. For NBA teams, three avenues exist for acquiring those pivotal superstars: signing players in free agency, adding them via trade, or hand-selecting them through the draft. One only has to look toward the outright fanfare surrounding recent top pick Zion Williamson to recognize that it's the pursuit of the latter which has defined and forever altered the NBA in its current era. ...

The most outspoken and combative coach in NBA history—and one of the most successful, amassing more than 1,175 victories, the sixth best winning record ever—reflects on his life, his career, and his battles on and off the basketball court in this no-holds-barred memoirA man of deep passion and intensity, George Karl earned his bad boy reputation while playing at the University of North Carolina, a rap that continued through the five years he spent with the San Antonio Spurs—and lon...

One of the greatest basketball players of all time finally tells—with relentless honesty—the incredible story of his life.He is one of basketball's towering figures: "Mr. Clutch," who mesmerized his opponents and fans. The coach who began the Lakers' resurgence in the 1970s. The general manager who helped bring "Showtime" to Los Angeles, creating a championship-winning force that continues to this day.Now, for the first time, the legendary Jerry West tells ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist comes “the best Jordan book so far” (The Washington Post), the story of Michael Jordan’s legendary years with the Chicago Bulls, capped by the 1998 NBA Finals and the team’s second three-peat.From The Breaks of the Game to Summer of ’49, David Halberstam has brought the perspective of a great historian, the insider knowledge of a dogged sportswriter, and the lov...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The wildly opinionated, thoroughly entertaining, and arguably definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA—from the founder of The Ringer and host of The Bill Simmons Podcast“Enough provocative arguments to fuel barstool arguments far into the future.”—The Wall Street JournalIn The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for a...

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the YearNCAA football is big business. Every Saturday millions of people file into massive stadiums or tune in on television as "athlete-students" give everything they've got to make their team a success. Billions of dollars now flow into the game. But what is the true cost? The players have no share in the oceans of money. And once the lights go down, the glitter doesn't shine so brightly. Filled with mind-blowing details of major NCAA football scand...

Charles Barkley has never been shy about expressing his opinions. Michael Jordan once said that we all want to say the things that Barkley says, but we don’t dare. But even die-hard followers of the all-time NBA great, the star of TNT’s Inside the NBA and CNN’s TalkBack Live, will be astonished by just how candid and provocative he is in this book—and just how big his ambitions are. Though he addresses weighty issues with a light touch and prefers to stir people to think ...