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Michael Cooper knew pressure. The NBA’s 1987 Defensive Player of the Year had won five rings with the 1980s Showtime Lakers, blocking shots alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and finishing “Coop-a-loop” passes from Magic Johnson for dunks. But in 2000, things were different. He wasn’t in the game, he was coaching it from the sidelines for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. And despite Cooper being named coach of the year, the Sparks fell short in the playoffs to the Houston Comets.

The WNBA playoffs begin this weekend. It’s the latest in a string of glitzy moments for the league, which recently has seen the rise of Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and her rivalry with Chicago’s Angel Reese, along with skyrocketing revenue and the news of expansion into new markets. But as a bright future unfolds, we wanted to dive into the past to remember seven hoopers who helped make this all possible.

It’s the dream of every kid who picks up a baseball bat. The score is tied, 1-1. It’s the bottom of the ninth inning. With one swing, you have the chance to make history. That’s the situation Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh found himself in on 30 September 2022. His manager called him up to bat with the game on the line. If his team won, they’d end a 20-year playoff drought. So, what did Raleigh do? He smacked a full-count, pinch-hit, walk-off dinger deep to right field. Cue: the victory music.

Two-time NBA All-Star Reggie Theus remembers the 1981 playoffs. In a “big time” opening round series, his Chicago Bulls faced the New York Knicks. The first game tipped off in one of the world’s most famous arenas, Madison Square Garden, and it included stars such as Artis Gilmore, Bill Cartwright and Michael Ray Richardson. The Bulls won game one and went on to win the series, playing Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the next round. Theus scored 37 points in the clincher against New York, an overtime victory in the Windy City. But it was a thrill he never quite felt again.

Welcome to Act III of the 2024-25 NBA season. It was a rough start for the league this year. People came out of the woodwork to criticize it, offering wild solutions, and pointing out the low early season TV ratings. But then the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers and things got real interesting in Act II.

Now, though, we’re in the third portion of the season and it couldn’t be more exciting. Indeed, we seem far away from those calls for sweeping change. Let’s look at five players who have wowed us and taken us to the edge of our seats in this third act.

When Tarik El-Abour was in middle school, his teacher asked him and his classmates a simple question. What do you want to be when you grow up? When it was time for him to answer, El-Abour gave a reply that thousands of children have said before. He wanted to be a baseball player. But his teacher shot back with something less than encouraging: “You’d better have a Plan B.” El-Abour, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, remained undeterred. Rather than listening to his pessimistic instructor, he distanced himself from her.

The business of sports is about winning. But that, of course, doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of losers out there. That’s most evident every year in the NBA around the first day of spring. With about a dozen games left in the regular season, it’s obvious which teams are also-rans – and they have probably known that for some time. But when a team are losing and losing often, how does that affect the roster? How do the players deal with the constant lows?

On Sunday afternoon, two of the best teams in the NBA’s Western Conference faced off on national television. When it was over, the Oklahoma City Thunder had routed the Denver Nuggets 127-103, pulling away in the fourth quarter thanks to a barrage from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 40 points on the day. But because it was the NBA, the game was less about the teams and more about the stars at the center of the action – who just so happen to be the league’s top two MVP candidates.

Have you ever opened up a social media page with a clear intention of what you’re doing and then instantly become distracted? You end up fiddling around and then closing the page and realizing you didn’t even do what you’d originally logged on for? Yes, the internet is a place full of distractions. TikTok, Instagram, whatever Twitter (X) is? It’s hard to remember what you had for breakfast some days. The same, of course, goes for NBA history.