As we look back on the highs and lows of 2021’s sports calendar, it’s tempting to crown certain teams as the best — or worst — in all of sports, not just their sport. That’s been difficult to do across the pro sports landscape … until now. We here at FiveThirtyEight made a concerted effort […]
On Nov. 4, the Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks played what’s known in video game terminology as a “mirror match.” Less than a minute into the game, Trae Young dribbled into a pick and roll while John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanović stood in the corners. He made a layup. The very next possession on the […]
Advanced technology is everywhere in basketball, and it’s only gaining steam. Some tech elements are already considered essential to the sport’s operations, such as rafter camera tracking technology that’s been in the NBA for nearly a decade; others, like detailed basket tracking provided by companies like Noah Basketball, are still in the early stages of […]
It was never supposed to take this long for Andrew Wiggins to become a valuable NBA player. Wiggins was the consensus No. 1 ranked prospect in his high school class, and he remained at the top even after he reclassified and went to college a year early. Before his sole season at Kansas even began, […]
The Cleveland Cavaliers have seen a lot of ups and downs this century, from an NBA championship and numerous Finals appearances to some truly abysmal seasons (some of which were then followed by incredible draft-lottery luck). Over a relatively short period, this franchise has experienced just about everything the league has to offer, good and […]