2024 will be a breakthrough year for basketball, with more coverage around the world than ever before.
The tournament will be remembered for record-setting feats, memorable plays, pep parties for women’s basketball, and a huge global event such as the Olympics that brought unprecedented attention to the sport.
Here are Al Jazeera’s best basketball moments of 2024.
1. LeBron & Bronny James – NBA’s first father-son duo
LeBron James and Bronny James become the first father and son to play together in the NBA during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on opening night of the 2024-25 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. It became.
The 39-year-old superstar and his 20-year-old son, who was selected by the Lakers with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, played together for almost two and a half minutes late in the first half of Bronny’s debut.
The moment they stepped onto the NBA court together on October 22, 2024, they actually made history twice. It was the first time father and son played in the league at the same time. And this is the first time father and son will play together on the same team.
For LeBron, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, this Bronny moment, where fans around the world were able to witness his proud father in the spotlight of professional sports, is one of the most enduring moments of his career. It may become one of your memories. his son.
2. Caitlin Clark Mania
Clark’s incredible meteoric rise from the NCAA Tournament to the professional world of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has made her one of the most trending sports stories of 2024.
On March 3, Clark’s profile exploded across social and traditional media after he surpassed Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old NCAA college basketball scoring record of 3,667 points. Many fans believed this record would never be broken.
On April 15, she was selected with the first pick in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever amid high expectations that she would revolutionize women’s professional basketball. Clark, 22, did not disappoint. Her live games erased WNBA TV viewership records, and the 6-foot point guard set a single-game assist record and won Rookie of the Year honors.
In the final analysis, Clark rose to the highest echelons of basketball greatness in the American market, quickly transitioning from the sports world to the cultural mainstream of public life. This is no small feat.
3. Stephen Curry lights up the Paris Olympics
The American “Dream” team competed in the Summer Olympics held in the French capital, Paris. But in an unusual move, one superstar waited until he was 36 to make his Olympic debut. He just happened to be the greatest 3-point shooter of all time. Playing in the NBA: Stephen Curry.
Curry’s first four games at the Olympic Games saw the 6-foot-3 guard stink on the court, averaging just 7.3 points per game on a dismal 35.7 percent shooting. It wasn’t memorable. That included an embarrassing 26.3 percent shooting from three. point range.
But great shooters keep shooting, and Curry had a spectacular scoring heat check in the all-important semifinal and final games.
First, he saved Team USA from the brink of defeat in the semifinals against Serbia, hitting nine 3-pointers and scoring 36 points. This was the second-highest score by an American athlete in Olympic history.
Then, with 2.42 points left in the final against host France and the United States clinging to a mere three-point lead at 82-79, the Golden State Warriors players went wild, hitting 4 of 4 3-pointers with a stunning I made two successes. -Span of minutes and 7 seconds.
When he made his fourth 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, it was an outrageous circus shot that sailed over the outstretched arms of two much taller French defenders closing in on him. The Olympic gold medal was assured for the Americans. Curry was an impressive 8-of-13 from 3-point range in Team USA’s exhilarating 98-87 victory over Team France.
Curry’s best gold-medal performance at the Bercy Arena was one of his three-pointers over the outstretched arm of Victor Wembaneyama, the 2.26-meter (7-foot-4-inch) French center who is the tallest in the Olympics. It was immortalized by being photographed in a book.
Curry averaged 30 points for Team USA in the semifinals and gold medal game of the tournament.
This is the highest average in Olympic history.
4. Ant-Man reaches new heights in NBA Playoffs
Minnesota guard Anthony “Ant-Man” Edwards had already wowed NBA fans with arguably the “dunk of the year” in the regular season against Utah on March 19th, but he did so in the playoffs against Dallas. His extraordinary flash at the end may have obscured even that epic slam. Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals on May 26th.
Unfortunately for opposing center Daniel Gafford, he will forever be remembered as the opposing player that Ant-Man just happened to fly through with this display of extraordinary athleticism.
Minnesota ultimately lost the playoff series to Dallas 4-1. But before Ant-Man’s explosive, high-wire act, several basketball commentators compared his aerial skills to Michael “Air”, the man many consider the greatest NBA player of all time. . Jordan.
5. Boston wins first NBA title since 2008
16 years is a long time for the NBA’s winningest franchise to wait for another title.
The Celtics dominated the regular season, posting a league-best 64-18 record.
They then advanced through the playoffs with an impressive 16-3 record, defeating Miami (4-1) in the first round, Cleveland (4-1) in the second round, and Indiana (4-0) in the Eastern Conference finals. ) and finished the final round. They won the title by defeating the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 in the NBA Finals.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP), but the Celtics’ race for the championship will depend on perhaps the league’s best starting five: Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue. It was marked by a true team effort featuring Holiday and Derrick White. .
With all of their key players back this season, Boston remains the favorite to repeat as champions in June 2025, but they will not be able to win a record 19th NBA title for the storied franchise. Few people will bet.
