Elevated

April 1, 2019
The global phenomenon that is the NBA is now taken for granted, thanks to multiplatform exposure and the effect of social media on turning its stars into first-name icons. Amid all that, there is still fine sports journalism, as this collection of New York Times reporting shows. Editor Araton includes some of his own pieces but primarily provides context when introducing the work of such great journalists as Selena Roberts, Ira Berkow, Howard Beck, and Marc Stein. There's a thoughtful piece by retired great Oscar Robertson and a fantastic interview with Pat Riley, who won four NBA championships in Los Angeles and another in Miami. There's also a fascinating interview with Jason Collins, the first active NBA player to come out publicly as a gay man, and a fine account by Araton of the passing of the torch from NBA commissioner David Stern to his successor, Adam Silver. This is essentially a history of the modern NBA as reflected through the words of the sportswriters working for the nation's widely acknowledged paper of record.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)