Dec 28, 2023, 08:00 ET
2023 was a great year for basketball, so it is time to remember the 10 characters who set the trend.
2023 was a great year for basketball in the NBA and worldwide, so it is time to remember the 10 characters who set the trend.
ESPN experts analyze each of the characters.
For LeBron James, the NBA’s greatest figure, 2023 was a year in which he established and broke several personal records; in addition to adding a couple more awards to his professional career.
In February he became the top scorer in NBA history by surpassing the mark of 38,387 points that belonged to legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. A brand that the ‘King’ continues to nurture game by game and that seems to take a long time to reach once the forward retires.
Likewise, after a playoffs in which the Los Angeles Lakers were left behind, James was not left empty-handed in the year that is about to end, as he won the first edition of the NBA Cup with the yellow and purple at beat the Indiana Pacers in the Las Vegas final and as if that were not enough, he was recognized with the Most Valuable Player trophy of that game, an award that will put his name on another historical page of the Association by becoming the oldest player in be distinguished with an MVP. (Roland of the Forest)
Make way for the player-panopticon. The Big Brother of the NBA. The tired basketball giant, with a big drop, capable of causing surprises at cruising speed. He can’t slow down. Put Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Arvydas Sabonis in a cocktail shaker, shake at maximum speed and you have Nikola Jokic, the best player in the world by miles.
Jokic plays and makes people play. It is a spectacle in itself. Meaning and signifier. Primary responsible for the Nuggets’ first title in their history at the hands of the Heat in 2023, he hopes to go for more in the 2023-24 season. Jokic, who decided not to participate in the World Cup in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia with his National Team, averages 26.5 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game, that is, almost a triple-double per appearance. A real madness. Denver continues to be the absolute protagonist of the West and it is thanks to its leader.
Awarded or not, we all know that the NBA MVP is the Serbian giant. For what he did, for what he does and for what he will do. (Bruno Altieri)
Joel Embiid is at the crest of the wave of his career. The extremely high level that he showed in the 2022-2023 season, in which he averaged 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds, crowned him with the league’s most valuable player award. However, the feeling that the Cameroonian was left with was bittersweet, since the individual award for having been the best of the regular season could not be validated in the playoffs and the Philadelphia 76ers said goodbye to the postseason earlier than he imagined.
In the first part of the 2023-2024 campaign, Embiid achieved something very difficult: not only did he improve his numbers, but he did so in less time on the court. The Sixers, since the arrival of Nick Nurse, trust, even more than before, in the evolutionary process of a player who can guide them in the dream of being champions. Embiid, who no longer has another star to overshadow him like James Harden was in the previous season, shines with his own light.
The outstanding performances, especially those in games with 50 or more points – which are already seven in his career – placed Embiid in the focus of a dispute: he had to choose whether in the next Olympic Games he would play for France or the United States, or even if he tried to qualify with Cameroon, his native country. Finally, the Philadelphia star will go in search of gold with Team USA. (Pablo Cormick)
After many expectations, in June, French center Victor Wambanyama finally made the predictions good by being chosen with pick 1 in the 2023 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs, who in May were the big winners of the lottery.
For Wemby, 2023 has been a year of contrasts, because after the excitement of its arrival in San Antonio and a good debut, the Texan team sank into one of the worst streaks in the history of the franchise by accumulating 18 losses in a row, streak that was broken with a 129-115 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on December 15.
On an individual level, things have not been bad at all and the numbers speak for themselves. Wemby averages 19.0 points per game, while he recovers 11.0 boards, but for the Frenchman the best is yet to come. In 2024 his country will host the Olympic Games and France is one of the candidates; Meanwhile, Spurs will continue to build around them to once again be a competitive and aspirational team. (Roland of the Forest)
James Harden
“I am the system,” said James Harden when he arrived at the Clippers, after leaving the Sixers through the back door. Criticism rained down from all over the planet, because he sounded conceited and out of place. But beyond his resume full of conflicts and problems throughout his career, we have to be fair and say that the present of his team, at the end of the year, is positive. And a lot has to do with La Barba.
La Barba managed to combine with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook so that the team, after the initial setback, took a step forward. It already has, what is said, rhythm and competitiveness. In any case, it is not the first time this has happened with Harden: excellence in a regular series and decline reaching the playoffs. The most important thing, then, will be to sustain and sustain. Control the locker room. Continue in this silent line, do not exceed in accumulating volume of play, and advance day by day in the process of keeping quiet. This may be your last chance to go for something important. It’s now or never. (Bruno Altieri)
Dennis Schröder’s year was marked by the World Cup. Without a doubt, it was the most glorious moment of his career and, at the same time, the opportunity he needed to relaunch it. Before becoming world champion with Germany, the point guard had not been able to find the best version of himself either in the Houston Rockets or in the Los Angeles Lakers, where he had good spells but never established himself.
In the World Cup in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, Schröder averaged 19.1 points and 6.1 assists per game and had a breakthrough performance in the final against Serbia with 28 points, which placed him in the highest echelon not only at the group level. but on an individual level, since he was chosen as MVP of the tournament. After those two dream weeks, after a brief rest, the point guard joined the Toronto Raptors, a team in which he serves as orchestra director and in which he regained part of the prominence that he had given up in the NBA. (Pablo Cormick)
A’ja Wilson
She was the WNBA’s best defensive player for the second year in a row, missing the regular-season Most Valuable Player award by seven points (to Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty) in the closest vote in league history. .
No problem. A’ja Wilson ended up having the best laugh. The Las Vegas Aces star won the championship trophy and the Most Valuable Player of the Finals.
Those who voted for Wilson were banking on a season in which he led Las Vegas to a 34-6 record with 22.8 points on 55.7% shooting, 8.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. In nine playoff games, he was just as impressive with 23.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, including a colossal showing of 24 points, 16 rebounds on 11 of 21 shooting from the field in the final game against Stewart and the Liberty. (Hiram Martinez)
Becky Hammon
“Becky Hammon can coach in the NBA, period,” said Pau Gasol in 2018. “She is overqualified to be a coach in the NBA,” said Las Vegas Aces captain Kelsey Plum a few months ago. In 2023, Hammon once again validated all the arguments in its favor. She led the Aces to a 34-6 regular season record and won eight of nine playoff games to capture their second consecutive title. She built an efficient machine on both ends of the court: the Aces led the way by scoring 114.8 points and allowing 99.2 per 100 possessions.
Perhaps once and for all, it should be clear that Hammon is one of the brightest minds in basketball, regardless of gender and league. But sadly since she became the first coach with a full-time position in the NBA in 2014, she returned to interview for a head coaching position, without her being hired. It’s a step that should be logical for someone of her credentials. Before beginning her title run with the Aces in April, Hamon stated that she was no longer expecting a call from the NBA. “I’m not going to beg for a job ever again,” the newly inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame told Time magazine. That’s a win for the Aces and the WNBA; the NBA misses it. (Hiram Martinez)
Angel Reese/ Caitlin Clark
The Magic Johnson-Larry Bird type rivalry of these two young women was the reason why the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four generated more audience than the men’s. Reese’s ‘you can’t see me now’ image (which Clark had previously done with other rivals), the subsequent discussion around that incident in the Finals, the controversial invitation of the first lady, Jill Biden, to the two teams After the game and Reese’s rise as a Madison Avenue figure have only contributed to women’s collegiate basketball reaching even more interest than the professional WNBA.
ANGEL REESE HIT CAITLIN CLARK WITH THE “YOU CAN’T SEE ME” ???? pic.twitter.com/Zj3mqIzkk9
— ESPN (@espn) April 2, 2023
Clark was undoubtedly the best individual player of 2023 with numbers for the ages. She averaged 27.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists on 47.3 from the field and 38.9% from three to lead Iowa to the first NCAA championship game in its history. In 2023-24 she continues even better with 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists in the first 13 games. Her three-pointers from the logo, her vibrant game and her attitude on the court were the reason Iowa’s exhibition game against DePaul on October 15 attracted 55,646 fans, a record for the women’s basketball. This season she joined Sabrna Ionescu as the only two women to achieve triple-doubles in four seasons and a few days ago she became the 15th player in history to reach 3,000 points during her time in college basketball.
Reese, nicknamed ‘Bayou Barbie,’ joined Louisiana State as a transfer from Maryland and quickly made an impact on the Tigers. She carried the team on her shoulders during the final rounds of the tournament, which included a 15-point, 10-rebound, and 5-go performance. assists in the final against Clark and the Hawkeyes. Reese protested when the first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, announced her intention to take both teams to the White House, when the tradition is that only the champion goes. Finally, the Tigers arrived at the White House alone and Reese received a call from President Biden himself days after the victory. (Hiram Martinez)
Kevin Durant has claimed a prominent place in NBA history by entering the Top 10 of the League’s top scorers, after surpassing Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes and Moses Malone this year to place himself in the tenth place of that table and He already has in his sights the 28,289 points that Carmelo Anthony accumulated to snatch ninth position and continue climbing, despite being 35 years old; a confirmation of his assessment as one of the purest shooters to have ever stepped on the court.
However, in 2023 KD also worked on his legacy on a collective level and although he began the calendar with the Nets, in February, three days after Kyrie Irving was traded to Dallas, he was sent to Phoenix and finished the regular season with percentages of 56 from the field, 40.4 in triples and 91.9 in free throws; Although he shone in the playoffs, the Nuggets stopped him, but Durant will pursue his revenge along with Devin Booker in the Suns that added Bradley Beal with the aim of winning as soon as possible. (Juan Pablo Sánchez)
2023-12-28 06:15:37
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