Sports Basketball

LeBron James is a standout forward in the NBA. Learn about his childhood and his rise to becoming a basketball superstar.

This short unauthorized biography of LeBron James highlights his journey so far in the NBA from once-doubted leader to perennial title contender. Few players demand as much excitement from crowds as LeBron James. It does not take a basketball fanatic to recognize and respect the name of LeBron James. Around the world, fans idolize LeBron for his unbelievable athletic prowess and collaborative team-based nature on the court.

Hit a buzzer beater! Throw up a brick! Make it rain! Discover the meaning of these b-ball terms and more in Basketball Talk. This action-packed nonfiction book—created in partnership with Sports Illustrated Kids—presents wacky lingo and puzzling phrases from the game of basketball.

Larry Miller is the tough-as-nails, fun-loving, working-class bad boy who in the 1960s saved young North Carolina coach Dean Smith's job by winning his first two ACC titles and a trip to the National Championship game. A two-time All American, Miller is still the only Tar Heel ever named ACC Player of the Year twice. He was also the first heartthrob of the modern ACC before moving on to become "the Joe Namath of the ABA", setting the pro league's all-time single-game scoring record. And then he simply disappeared.

Small town. Undersized. Not enough talent. John Willkom heard it all as a young basketball player growing up in rural Wisconsin. Despite the odds, John dedicated his life to the game, an arduous journey that challenged the very core of even the most disciplined. As John's hard work lands him amongst basketball's elite, it is the workouts, the people, and the behind-the-scenes interactions that not only change his skill set but how he lives his life. Both heartfelt and funny, Walk-On Warrior takes you into the mind of an athlete from John's perspective.

Collectively, Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, and Gary Williams have won more than 2,300 games and six national championships and reached thirteen Final Fours. Before Pitino became the face of the Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville programs, before Calhoun turned UConn into a national power, and before Williams brought Maryland to its first national championship, these coaches cut their teeth in front of modest-sized crowds in college gymnasiums of Boston during the '70s and '80s. Boston Ball charts how this trio of coaches, seemingly out of nowhere, started a basketball revolution

Paul Westhead was teaching high school in his native Philadelphia when he was named La Salle University’s men’s basketball coach in 1970. By 1980 he was a Los Angeles Lakers assistant, soon to be hired as head coach, winning an NBA title with Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and rookie guard Magic Johnson.

In this, the definitive biography of Hall of Fame inductee and one of college basketball's most controversial and successful coaches, son Danny Tarkanian takes us through a first-hand accounting of the life, controversy, and triumphs of historic UNLV coach Jerry "The Shark" Tarkanian. From his immigrant roots through his own school days as an athlete, through the continual conflict with the NCAA and the eventual shocking outcome, with play-by-play action of the greatest games, and with a first-hand account of finally breaking through to win a national championship.

Colby Jackson is a talented NBA star who can’t move past his past but he met Missy Greene, a gal who has helped him learn to trust people once more. His career is starting to take off and he’s not only finding success on the hardwood but discovering he can have a wonderful life off the court as well.

When death shows up at a crowded park, pandemonium reigns.

In the 1966 NCAA basketball championship game, an all-white University of Kentucky team was beaten by a team from Texas Western College (now UTEP) that fielded only black players. The game, played in the middle of the racially turbulent 1960s - part David and Goliath in short pants, part emancipation proclamation of college basketball - helped destroy stereotypes about black athletes.

~Where staying above sea level requires careful alignment~ Indigo Ownley hesitates to aid a motorist in distress along the Great Dismal Swamp, and then cringes when she sees the NBA Tidewater Titans’ star center, Shae Swain. Reprimanded for his ejection from a game, Shae receives a penalty of two hundred community service hours and frantically needs to get started before another December day passes—so he selects Indigo’s nonprofit that mentors promising athletes. A chance encounter with a poster in the mop closet reveals that Indigo is really IOU, a lithe player he shared the court ...

In John Stockton: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Greatest Point Guards, you will learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's greatest point guards of all time, John Stockton. Stockton ran the point for the Utah Jazz through the majority of the '80s and '90s. He holds the NBA record for the most assists and steals of all time. Playing for the majority of his career alongside Karl Malone, Stockton had a highly illustrious career. By the time he retired, he was a 10-time All-Star and had led the league in assists nine times.

Life in the G League is far from glamorous. Players make enormous sacrifices and work unimaginable hours in the hope that someone in the NBA will give them a chance. To this day, very few fans—even the most passionate followers of the NBA—know much about the G League. In the fall of 2021, the Birmingham Squadron granted author Alex Squadron complete access to the team to capture the experience of playing in the league.

Basketball: A Guide for Players and Fans gives young listeners a courtside look at one of the world's most popular sports. Listeners will find simple explanations of basketball's beginnings, basic rules and strategies, and how they can suit up and get on the court. Kids who love basketball won't want to stop listening until they're ready for tip-off!

The college basketball scandals of 1951 were to basketball what the 1919 Black Sox scandals were to baseball - a loss of innocence, after which the game would be permanently tarnished, its relationship to power and big money firmly established. In Scandals of '51, Charley Rosen identifies all the major figures - including players, coaches, gangsters, clergymen, politicians - that made up the elaborate network that controlled the outcomes to many games or protected those who did so.

Playing basketball for Duke University was a major accomplishment for me at eighteen! I was away from home for the first time, beginning to work towards my personal goals of becoming a WNBA pro player one day! My dreams encounter an immoveable object in my path, mainly my richer-than-god father and mother. They inform me that I am needed to further the family's interests. A fall from grace, a young woman finds her way in the dark of the world, cut off from all she has ever known. She discovers herself, her friends, and why she has never been able to feel attracted to a man! Not a cliche in ...

In Game Face, King finally opens up about his life on and off the court. In his book, King's basketball IQ is on full display as he breaks down defenses using his own unique system for taking shots from predetermined spots on the floor. King talks about matching up against some of the all-time NBA greats, from Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, and Charles Barkley to Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, and many others.

In Red Auerbach: The Inspiring Life and Leadership Lessons of One of Basketball's Greatest Coaches, you will learn the inspirational story of one of the greatest basketball coaches and executives of the 20th century, Red Auerbach. Few have left as indelible of a mark on a single franchise as what Red achieved in his time with the Boston Celtics. As a coach, he led the team to nine championships and as an executive, another seven. Needless to say, Red Auerbach will always be remembered for the substantial impact he left on the game.

From Mike Pesca, host of the popular Slate podcast The Gist, comes the greatest sports minds imagining how the world would change if a play, trade, injury, or referee's call had just gone the other way. Upon Further Review takes classic arguments conducted over pints in a pub and places them in the hands of writers, athletes, and historians. From turning points that every sports fan rues or celebrates to the forgotten would-be inflection points that defined sports, it answers age-old questions, and settles the score, even if the score bounced off the crossbar.