Sports Basketball

The last American company to truly compete with Nike in the billion-dollar basketball sneaker market was And1, a rags-to-riches enterprise founded by three friends in Philadelphia who used grassroots marketing and an audacious approach to connect with young consumers. That was nearly 20 years ago. Can And1 possibly catch lightning in a bottle again? Zach Schonbrun inspects the rise, fall, and current relaunch of one of the most fascinating American brands of the 1990s, led by Cape Capener.

Los Angeles native and longtime sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times, Scott Howard-Cooper draws on more than a hundred interviews and extensive access to many of the principal figures, including Wooden’s family, to deliver a rich narrative that reveals the turmoil at the heart of this storied college basketball program.

In Dikembe Mutombo: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball’s Greatest Centers, you'll learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's greatest defensive players, Dikembe Mutombo. Mutombo had an illustrious NBA career, retiring with eight All-Star selections and four Defensive Player of the Year awards. His impact on his teams as a defensive anchor cannot be understated.

He is perhaps most well-known for being exiled from the league for praying—instead of standing and saluting the flag–during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games throughout the 1995-96 season. Abdul-Rauf’s protest sent shockwaves through the NBA that can still be felt today. With wit and candor, Abdul-Rauf tells the story of how he rose to the top of his game—only to have his career taken away in the blink of an eye when he stood up for his principles.

Newly revised through the end of the 2022-2023 season, Ja Morant: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball’s All-Star Point Guards explores the inspirational story of one of basketball's latest star point guards, Ja Morant. Since being selected with the second overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, Ja Morant has consistently impressed fans across the league. So much so, that he won the 2020 Rookie of the Year Award. In his rookie season, Ja finished averaging 17.8 points per game, along with 7.3 assists per game.

Do you like to play basketball? Learn how to shoot free throws using science! What is an arch? What is the effect of resistance and drag on the ball? How do you use the forces of physics like angle, backspin and angle? Learn to shoot free throws like a scientist and improve your game!

Like millions of kids before him, Jay Williams used to pretend he was making the game-winning shot while playing basketball in his Plainfield, New Jersey, backyard. Unlike almost all of those other kids, he kept right on making shots until he became an NCAA champion and two-time national player of the year at Duke and the number-two overall NBA draft pick in 2002.

They don’t set up any better than this. The greatest basketball player of all time–Bill Russell–and his juggernaut Boston Celtics, winners of ten (ten!) of the previous twelve NBA championships, squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again. Russell’s opponent? The fearsome 7’1” next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

Spanning the entire amateur and pro basketball landscape and using the 2014-2015 NBA season as a prism to a much larger story, Chasing Perfection is a fascinating, all-access spin through the inner workings of the smartest minds at every level of the game. It is about the ongoing relentless, high-stakes quest to find what national sportswriter Andy Glockner calls "perfected players" and what ultimately happens to them at the highest (pro) level.

You gotta know the rules to play the game. Ball is life. Take it to the hoop. Soar. What can we imagine for ourselves? What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life? What if we had our own rules of the game to help us get what we want, what we aspire to, what will enrich our lives? The Playbook is intended to provide inspiration for kids ages 10 and up to help them succeed on and off the court.

In Shaquille O'Neal: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Greatest Centers, you will learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's greatest centers, Shaquille O'Neal. Often nicknamed "Shaq" or "The Diesel", O'Neal left an indelible mark on the center position. His incredible power and athleticism made him a practically unstoppable presence on both the offensive and defensive ends of the basketball court. It's no surprise O'Neal concluded his career a four-time NBA Champion.

Have you tried and failed to will your short body to dunk a basketball? Learn how even the most vertically challenged players can slam the ball home with ease.

Two-time All-Star and 13-year NBA veteran Caron Butler has an impressive basketball record. He was Big East Co-Player of the Year at UConn, the 10th overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft and a key player for the Dallas Mavericks in their championship-winning season in 2011. But before Butler had a chance to prove himself on the court, he spent his time trying to prove himself on the streets, as a gang member and drug dealer in his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. He saw friends gunned down in the bloody street wars near his home....

Elena Delle Donne made her WNBA debut in 2013 and earned the Rookie of the Year award. It was just a glimpse of what was to come. Delle Donne has been an All-Star six times, and she led the Washington Mystics to a championship win in 2019. Get the highlights of Delle Donne’s amazing career and learn about her community involvement off the court.

Leonard was just 20 years old when he was first drafted in the NBA. Since then, he has had many triumphs, and has helped lead his teams to greatness. Discover more about Leonard's career highlights in this exciting biography in the Stars of Sports series.

¿Quieres conocer al hombre, la leyenda, la Mamba Negra? Usted aprenderá: Cómo se convirtió en uno de los mejores, cómo se elevó por encima de todo, cómo vivirá su legado a pesar de su trágico final y muchos más! ¡Todo lo que necesitas saber sobre lo mejor del baloncesto está en este audiolibro! ¡Honra la memoria de Kobe Bryant al aprender sobre su increíble vida! Este audiolibro tiene como objetivo proporcionar una visión completa de la impresionante carrera de Kobe Bryant y los desafíos que tuvo que superar.

In Five Banners, Feinstein tells the inside history of Coach K’s forty-two-year career at Duke and its five NCAA championships, from the first, against Kansas in 1991, to the most recent, in 2015 against Wisconsin. With unparalleled access to Coach K, the team, and its staff, Feinstein takes listeners on a mesmerizing ride into the locker room and onto the court. Full of intimate details, personal memories, and previously untold on- and off-court stories, it is a book that only Feinstein could write.

In Larry Bird: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Greatest Forwards, you will learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's premier forwards, Larry Bird. Larry Bird had a profound impact on the Boston Celtics' franchise throughout the 1980s, leading the franchise to three NBA Championships. With an extraordinary ability as a two-way player, Bird was gritty, full of heart, and the definition of a superstar.

At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream.

Against a backdrop of ongoing resistance to racial desegregation and strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation’s imagined descent into disorder. A new generation of Black players entered the league then, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spencer Haywood, and the press and public were quick to blame this cohort for the supposed decline of pro basketball, citing drugs, violence, and greed.