Photo: David Gonzalez-ImagnImages NBA coaches have the most thankless job in basketball. Win 55 games? You had a loaded roster. Lose in the second round? You got outcoached. Make one questionable rotation change in May? Congratulations—thousands of fans are now calling for your job before the postgame press conference even starts. We know the best coaches leave their fingerprints everywhere, sometimes long after they're gone from their franchise. They build up a culture, groo

Photo: Jordan Greer-Getty It’s September. The gyms are empty, the season is still a few weeks away, and mixtape season is right around the corner. The Class of 2026 has taken its fair share of criticism, with many questioning whether they have the same star power, depth and overall talent to take over the NCAA this season. But if you thought high school basketball was entering a down period, think again. The future is a whole different ball game—and it’s looking VERY bright.

Photo: GettyImages Shooting has never been more polarizing in the NBA, and the talent around the league has never been more absurd. Gone are the days when being called a great shooter simply meant standing behind the three-point line and waiting for an open look. Today’s best marksmen are elite from the mid-range, pulling up from the logo, sprinting to get open off screens, burying contested jumpers and torching defenders from all-three levels. There are catch-and-shoot speci

Photo: Brian Spurlock-USAToday Another week, another flashback into the past. This time, the time machine is taking us all the way back to 2015—more than a full decade removed from when some of the best high-school basketball players in America shared the floor as teenagers with the basketball world at their feet. Most of these guys were attached to enormous expectations. Five-star recruits. Future lottery picks. Supposed franchise prodigies. But ten years is more than enough

Photo: Tony Guiterrez-AP The future of basketball isn’t approaching—it’s already here. Across the league, the next generation of stars is kicking down the door, taking over franchises and, in some cases, already battling the game’s best players for NBA supremacy. We’re talking freak athletes, walking triple-doubles, defensive monsters, fearless scorers and young franchise players who somehow still have years before they even enter their primes. With so much young talent flood

Photo: John Raoux/AP The 2022 NBA Draft is loaded with star power. Headlined by 6'10" Duke phenom Paolo Banchero, this particular class entered the league with plenty of hype surrounding its top prospects. Chet Holmgren looked like one of the most unique big-man prospects basketball had seen in years, Jabari Smith Jr. put Auburn on the map, and names like Jaden Ivey and Shaedon Sharpe gave the lottery plenty of intrigue beyond the top three. Four years later, we're starting t

Photo: Antoine Crowley-AP Some players spend their entire careers building a legacy in one city. These guys practically collected boarding passes. They’ve been traded, waived, signed, re-signed and shipped across the league more times than they can probably count. They’ve gone from starters to sixth men, contenders to rebuilds, fan favorites in one city to forgotten veterans in the next. But through every new jersey, new locker room and new role, they found a way to stick aro

Photo: Cody Jeffries-AP Another week, another flash into the past. This time around, the time machine pivots to 2016—and we might be looking at one of the deepest classes we’ve covered yet. Lonzo Ball. De’Aaron Fox. Jayson Tatum. And somehow? That still barely scratches the surface. This wasn’t a class where two or three prospects separated themselves and everyone else faded into obscurity. Damn near half of these McDonald’s All-Americans went on to carve out above average NB

Photo: Greg Byrd-Getty Another week—another step backward through basketball history. This time, we're taking a look at 2017—a class headlined by the likes of Deandre Ayton, Trae Young and a deep collection of prospects who appeared destined to shape the next generation of the NBA. And yet, nine years later, this group still feels strangely unfinished. The more recent classes we've revisited either delivered the stars we expected or gave us enough evidence to understand where

Photo: Nate Billings/AP Every MVP award takes us back to an era. Since 2000, we’ve seen legends rise in little time, dynasties cemented, archetypes we never dreamed of and stars rewriting the history books. From Allen Iverson dragging Philly to the top, to Derrick Rose becoming the youngest MVP ever, to Steph Curry changing basketball forever, to Nikola Jokic turning the center position into a cheat code, every MVP left a different impression. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sec

The NBA Draft is right around the corner, and following another MVP performance from Nikola Jokic, you have to wonder how important it really is to chase high picks when player development, smart scouting, and the right system can turn overlooked talent into the best player in the world. Jokic has set the blueprint for what a second rounder can do, but just how many great talents slid through the cracks on draft night because teams slept on them? Since 1947, every draft class

by Zak Drapeau and Joel Piton Sportz Nation - 4/24/2026 Photo Credit: Nico Martinez/FW The Western Conference is full of icons. From dynasties in Los Angeles and Golden State to individual legends who put smaller markets on the map, the West is loaded with names that shaped the game. In terms of impact, who affected the game, and the way fans remember a team, the West have the East beat. So after breaking down every Eastern Conference team’s Mount Rushmore, we’re shifting ove