Who says end of calendar year, says period of retrospectives. Between the NBA season and Paris Olympic Games, the year 2024 was rich. So, what can we learn from these twelve months? In short, what will we be talking about in ten or twenty years, when we will remember this year? In ten categories, here is the assessment for 2024.
Team of the Year: Boston Celtics
Best team of the regular season (64-18) with seven more victories over its closest pursuer. Best offensive rating of history. Playoffs crossed without the slightest fear with three games lost in four series for a well-deserved title. It's difficult to get a better record than what the Celtics were able to offer in 2024. Jayson Tatum's training flies over the NBA with this squad completed in the summer of 2023 with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. The start of this season is generally of the same ilk, despite Cleveland's surprise lead in the East. And Boston is perhaps giving rise to a new global evolution in the game with its use of outside shooting as a real first offensive weapon with more than 50 3-point attempts per game!
Player of the Year: Nikola Jokic
The Nuggets star resumed his reign over the NBA, after an MVP title gleaned by Joel Embiid, without forgetting his bronze medal won at the Paris Olympic Games. The Serbian won his third award as best player of the season, a few months after taking Denver to the title. Jokic has further cemented his place among the best players of his generation, even in history, as his track record is substantial even though he has not yet celebrated his 30th birthday. Always as altruistic, even artistic, the Joker is perhaps even stronger at the start of the season with the 30-point average bar temporarily exceeded, including a monstrous 50% 3-point success.
Dunk of the year: Guerschon Yabusele on LeBron James
France hangs on in the second quarter of the Olympic final, trailing by seven points. Guerschon Yabusele has the ball at 45 degrees from the circle behind the 3-point line, and fakes the hand-to-hand pass with Frank Ntilikina to leave Kevin Durant and Devin Booker there. The interior tricolor attacks the basket facing LeBron James. Crime of lèse-majesté, Yabusele flies away in full force and signs a thunderous poster. James ends up on the ground, Yabusele allows himself to stumble and Bercy explodes.
The clutch moment of the year: Stephen Curry's hot streak against France
Basketball fans during major competitions or simple spectators who have not followed the NBA on a daily basis for a decade have discovered what fans have known and experienced for a long time. Stephen Curry is the best shooter in history and when he catches fire, there is nothing to do except admire the spectacle and count the points. After a complicated start with the American team, the playmaker saved the best for last: against Serbia in the semi-final, then in the final against France. In the last three minutes, he scored four winning baskets! And the last one is a masterpiece where Stephen Curry allows himself not to pass the ball to LeBron James and Kevin Durant, totally open, and to shoot above Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier. An action so depressing for the French but so immense…
The surprise of the year: the Blues are just one breath away from shaking Team USA
In the aftermath of the French men's team's superb and cruel silver medal, and as the highlight of the Paris 2024 Games, its women's counterpart faces a perhaps even higher peak. . The Americans remain on seven Olympic titles in a row and 60 consecutive victories before competing in this final. But the Blues have no complexes with their iron defense and some exploits like shooting Marine Fauthoux's logo. Gabby Williams' teammates lead by ten points but see Team USA catch up and move in front. Williams has the equalizing shot to send the match into overtime but bites the 3-point line, losing 67-66. For a team which remained in seventh place at the 2022 World Cup and 3rd place in the Euro a year earlier, the feat would have taken on an additional dimension.
Disappointment of the year: the Milwaukee Bucks
We expected the Giannis Antetokounmpo – Damian Lillard association to be the one that could bring Milwaukee back to the top of the NBA. The pick-and-roll between one of the best outside attackers in the league and one of the craziest athletic monsters in history had everything on paper to dominate night after night. But the mayonnaise between the “Greek Freak” and the former Portland leader never gave its full measure, until an elimination in the first round of the last playoffs for the second season in a row, with Antetokounmpo on the flank. The coronation during the last NBA Cup, however, gave some reason to believe that the mayonnaise would eventually take hold.
Transfer of the year: the exchange between Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle
In a summer that was ultimately quite calm, without a huge superstar movement, it was the transfer between Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle that livened up the offseason the most. For several reasons. Already because it concerns two top teams and two All-Star players. Then because it reveals the difficulties and the adaptation time necessary to the NBA's new collective agreement. This exchange took several days to be formalized because, behind the scenes, the Knicks maneuvered with finesse to succeed in bringing “KAT” to New York. With the arrival of Mikal Bridges at the beginning of July, the franchise took care to carefully negotiate salary issues, shedding a few million dollars. Thus, she retained flexibility for the exchange with Towns. She signed DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington for a dollar more than the minimum salary in order to successfully complete the transfer! It was complex but perfectly done, and it's working quite well from a sporting point of view so far. More than in Minnesota anyway…
The scoop of the year: the latest “Woj Bomb”
For years, Adrian Wojnarowski has delighted fans by posting on social networks, before anyone else, the main information (transfers or signings) from the NBA ecosystem. And his latest “Woj Bomb” is perhaps the most surprising of all. In September, the ESPN journalist announced his retirement, at age 55, to begin a management career at the New York University of St. Bonaventure, where he graduated. Later, Adrian Wojnarowski confessed that he withdrew from the media world because his phone took up too much space and that he was no longer fulfilled in this profession. In addition, he has been affected by prostate cancer since last March. He thus left his place to Shams Charania, his former “student” who has now become the king of NBA insiders.
The emotion of the year: a father and son together in the NBA
We know fairy tales in Los Angeles, and very close to Hollywood, LeBron James and his son Bronny wrote one of the great stories of the season. It was last October 22, for the opening of the season. Against the Wolves, LeBron James and his eldest became the first father/son duo to play together in an official NBA meeting. “ Going to the scorer's table with my father and entering the game for the first time, it's a crazy moment that I will never forget.” reacted Bronny, drafted by the Lakers last June. Since then, he has mainly played in the G-League, but the story remains beautiful.
The match of the year: the Olympic semi-final, United States – Serbia
To beat the “Avengers,” you had to be perfect for 40 minutes. In the Olympic final, the Blues, guilty of too many lost balls and free throws, gave in. The Serbs, on the other hand, were close to the summits for thirty minutes during the semi-final. Nikola Jokic and his teammates were insolent at 3-points to respond to Stephen Curry, going so far as to lead by 17 points in this meeting. For many minutes, it was an offensive demonstration from Serbia. Then, in the last quarter, LeBron James increased the pressure and the Americans suffocated their opponent. The Serbs miss shots, not Stephen Curry or “LBJ”, and Team USA wins 95-91 in a very high level meeting.
The photo of the year: the “Avengers” by Malik Djoulait
The objective? Take a photo of LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant together during the Olympic final. The difficulty? Important since the photographer in question had never handled a camera before these Olympic Games! Here is the beautiful and incredible story of Malik Djoulait. He told us about his adventure and this now famous photo: “This is the photo I imagined. Better than I imagined »he told us in September. “The way they are positioned, it reminds us of the film poster. » The shot is so successful and striking that FIBA, Sports Center and ESPN took it over. Even LeBron James himself who will make it his Instagram profile photo for a few days!
By Loris Belin and Jonathan Demay
