Steph Curry‘s show-stealing performance during the gold medal game at the Paris Olympics has to still be fresh on your mind. It sure as hell is still fresh on mine. I simply have never seen anything like it. And for that matter, it’ll be some time before someone else did something comparable on as large a stage. But thankfully, this isn’t the only exciting moment in basketball during 2024. But for my money, this one has to rank at or near the top.
As we end a very hectic, and at times, tumultuous 2024, I thought we should highlight some other moments that could rival my favorite from this past summer. For instance, New York Liberty won their first WNBA championship, defeating the Minnesota Lynx. One of the founding teams of the WNBA finally with some hardware to their name.
Let’s also not forget about how that championship punctuated the most pivotal season in the WNBA’s history. A lot of this past season’s success no doubt is thanks to the leagues newest stars in Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. Their matchups were covered with the detail of a fine tooth comb. Each woman set, and broke records for rookies, and all players alike. With that renewed interest in the league, you know the people can’t wait to follow these ladies’ career trajectories for years to come.
If we pivot to even more recent happenings, who can forget about the sentimental moment of father-son duo LeBron and Bronny James taking the court for the first time together? A feel good story at the very least, and an inspiring one at its very best. It also helped that at the time, The Lakers were in a good groover and were exceeding expectations under rookie head coach JJ Redick.
This past summer, the fabled Boston Celtics also raised their 18th championship banner. It’s a league best record, and was the first championship for stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Albeit their win being of a historic nature, outside of Boston, I wouldn’t call it one of the top moments of 2024. But I’d be remised if I didn’t mention who won the NBA title this year.
As recently as this week, we witnessed the “Point God” Chris Paul move into second all-time in NBA assists. He’s now only second to John Stockton in that category. We also witnessed James Harden move into second all-time in three-point shots made. he is now only second to the greatest shooter ever in Steph Curry.
It’s clear that in the game of basketball, 2024 was a year of historic milestones. Many that I mentioned were pretty lofty. But I maintain, that you’ve never seen anything like the closing moments of the men’s gold medal game in Paris. The stakes, the talent on the opposition and the talent on the U.S. side; unprecedented. It has to be the emblem of the whole sport for this year. God level talent on display, on sports grandest stage. What say you?
