Expensive Basketball [Hardcover]

AN INSTANTNEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER - One of Barnes & Noble's Best Sports Books of 2025

From the #1New York Times bestselling author ofThe Rap Year BookandBasketball (and Other Things), a clever and inventive examination of some of basketball's most iconic players, moments, games, and more, with original illustrations by Ian Klarer.

Everything in basketball is measured. Everything in basketball is counted, and quantified, and computed. And yet, no matter how expansive the list of various pinpoint-specific statistical categories gets, some basketball things remain uncountable, and unquantifiable.

Some moments are more poetry than calculation; more art than numerical value; more feeling than data processing. And thus:Expensive Basketball.

From the final 196 seconds of Kobe Bryant’s playing career to the Sue Bird backpedal, from the erosive terror of Tim Duncan to the Larry Bird memory carousel,Expensive Basketballis an affirmation of feelings.Shea Serranois an author, journalist, and podcaster. He’s the #1New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Rap Year Book,Basketball (And Other Things),Movies (And Other Things), andHip-Hop (And Other Things). He lives in Texas with his family."Serrano pushes back against the the stats and analytics that have come to dominate sports coverage in favor of an emotionally driven appreciation of hoops stars such as Tim Duncan and Sue Bird."San Antonio Express-News"Serrano is one of the few writers whose on-the-page enthusiasm is infectious, who can describe a particular spin move executed during a regular season game from 2006 and successfully transfer his excitement about it to the reader—even if you didn’t watch that game, never cared about that team, are only hearing about that player for the first time."LitHub, Most AnticilS.