From a seasoned NBA expert and acclaimedSports Illustratedwriter, the compelling story of the last decade of the NBA, as seen through the lens of the unforgettable 2010–2011 season
The Soul of Basketball is the compelling narrative of the changing guard in the NBA over the past decade, as played out during the pivotal 2010–2011 season, which saw stars fall, new heroes rise, the game stop and somehow find rebirth. It started withThe Decision, that infamous moment when uber-star LeBron James made the ill-advised announcement that he was joining Miami to cast aside the single-superstar model of Michael Jordan and play alongside some of the best in the NBA. But it didn’t work, and in the process LeBron became the personification of a sport that had lost its way.The Soul of Basketballcenters around the stories of LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Doc Rivers, Dirk Nowitzki, and other NBA celebrities that year, each traversing a make-or-break season that would change the league forever.
 
In the tradition ofMoneyball and The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, veteran NBA writer Ian Thomsen paints a portrait of a game in the throes of change. Chronicling this last season of what fans should have regarded as the best basketball ever played, Thomsen tells the larger story of a league in crisis. From Miami to Boston, Los Angeles to Dallas, Cleveland to the NBA offices in downtown Manhattan, this is a fascinating narrative about the business of sports that paves the way for the new guard, such as Steph Curry, to thrive.
 

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Ian Thomsen is the special contributor to NBA.com has been writing about sports in America and around the world for three decades on behalf of the Boston Globe, The National Sports Daily, the International Herald Tribune, and Sports Illustrated. He was courtside for the three NBA Finals of Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird, and in Barcelona when they joined with Michael Jordan on the original Dream Team. Since 2000 he has been focusing exclusively on the NBA from his base in Boston, Massachusetts.