Best Basketball Books of All Time: The Top 10 List

I happen to be an avid reader who has spent many rainy days poring over a book and this year I read many famous books about basketball. Besides knowing biographies of famous personalities in basketball and getting motivation there’s one more thing that you can do with that kind of experience: tell people about some of your favorite basketball books that are really worth reading.

Below, I am mentioning some of my favorite picks and top recommendations for you about Basketball books.

1. The Breaks of the Game

In this book, David Halberstam has written far more than just basketball. He highlighted a face of our society where power, money, and talent collide with corruption and both national obsessions and naked greed get exposed. He describes the influence of big media, the fans and the hype they subsist on, the terrible physical demands of sports, the lash of ethics, the conflict of races and class and the unreal salaries. Ultimately, the consequences of converting sport into mass entertainment and when athletes transform into superstars. The Breaks of the Game Paperback features a world of grand dreams, impossible expectations, and bracing realities which make it a league of its own.

In a nutshell, Halberstam’s knowledge of the basketball world is unrivaled. He presented all in a way that puts the reader in the room and on the court.

2. Last Shot City Streets Basketball Dreams

Basketball becomes the last chance for him to escape this life, get a college education, or make big money in the NBA.

This book is a must-read as it will give you a glimpse into the culture of NYC basketball and allow you to be a part of one player’s journey struggling all the way to get out of the ghetto for a better life. Moreover, the way Darcy Frey has written the story of Marbury, bumming rides in the backseat of her car around Coney Island, makes it a largely memorable story.

3. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success

He developed a new approach to leadership after exploring from humanistic psychology and Native American philosophy to Zen meditation. He candidly describes how he:

• Learned the secrets of mindfulness and team chemistry while playing for the champion NY Knicks in the 1970’s.
• Managed Michael Jordan and got him to embrace selflessness, even if it meant losing a scoring title.
• Forged successful teams out of players of varying abilities and make them trust one another and perform in sync.
• Inspired Dennis Rodman and other “uncoachable” personalities to become part of something larger than themselves and to win as one.
• Transformed Kobe Bryant into a mature leader of a championship team from a rebellious teenager.

Moreover, this book is full of revelations: about fascinating personalities and their drive to win, about competition at the highest levels, the wellsprings of motivation and about what it takes to bring out the best in yourself and others.

4. The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season With Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls

It covers a lot of his achievements, in much more depth and exposes what took place behind the scenes, while delivering non-stop excitement, tension and thrills.

The Jordan rules reveal provocative picture and incomparable story of Michael Jordan, including everything from his stormy relationships with his coaches, teammates and power struggles with management – which includes verbal attacks on general manager Jerry Krause and tantrums against coach Phil Jackson for Jordan’s obsessions with becoming the leading scorer, and his refusal to pass the ball in the crucial minutes of big games. Jordan’s teammates also tell the story of their side, from Scottie Pippen, to Bill Cartwright, to Horace Grant.

Smith literally takes us into the locker room, on the team plane and team bus, and seats us on the bench during games. Sometimes, books reflecting on a team’s success don’t reach the personal level with the people who really made it happen but The Jordan Rules does.

5. Loose Balls: The Short, Wildlife of the American Basketball Association

The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA have won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, and the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, today’s NBA is still even decades later, just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.

Pluto took a ton of information and successfully made it flow in a way that was logical for the reader and there’s no better way to arrange the book. It covers varied stories carried about by varied players and each season had its own storyline with its own highs and lows shared by its fans and players.

After all these years, loose balls is the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It’s a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports that is entirely told through incredible words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the nine seasons of league.

6. My Losing Season: A Memoir

Pat Conroy becomes part of a basketball team, during one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, that is ultimately destined to fail. Conroy re-creates his pivotal senior year as captain of the Citadel Bulldogs. He chronicles the highs and lows of that fateful 1966–67 season, his tough disciplinarian coach, the lessons he learnt from losing and joys of winning. Most of all, he recounted how a group of boys came together as a team, playing a sport that would become a metaphor for a man whose spirit could never be defeated.

7. They Call Me Coach

His life didn’t have a great start, an abusive dad, single mother with seven kids living in the inner-city of Houston. He managed to escape the route of drugs, alcohol, gangs, crimes, and lack of education to become a College Basketball Player.

He believes that there are seeds of greatness on the inside of him and he gets off the bench and gets into the game of Life. Later, he spent 11 years as a HS Athletic Director, Teacher, Counselor and Coach. Also he coached College Basketball four years Division 1 Assistant at Liberty University four years as Head Coach at NCAA Division 2, NBA Agent and Trainer, Business Owner of Reaching New Heights BasketBall/Shooting Stars AAU and Training Progra. Now, Author of “They Call Me Coach” Inventor and Patent Holder of Training and Rehabilitation Boot and a Motivational Speaker.

8. The Assist: A Gospel-Centered Guide to Glorifying God Through Sports

This book specifically show you how to:

• Use your sport to get closer to God.
• Glorify God in every area of your sport, including practicing, injuries, relating to your teammates, winning honestly, and losing graciously.
• As an athlete, Leverage your position to maximize your impact in God’s kingdom.

Smith’s book is aimed to assist you in integrating your faith with your life as an athlete, giving your best effort and making sure God gets the credit. Moreover, this book gives you an in-depth look into what makes sports so great and how sports can overcome the barriers like race, social class, and other factors that go into living in the inner city.

9. The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season With Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball’s Most Improbable Dynasty

Through a gripping and heartrending season, he struggled to lead a troubled team to glory with his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination of no more seeing children lost into these streets.

This book is a great read for the audience looking for a story and motivation about how a coach’s passion can drive his team crazy and passionate towards success and winning. Once you pick this book up it’s really hard to put it down again before finishing!

10. Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich

He established records of averaging 44.2 points a game at Louisiana State University that will never be broken. But the thing that was even more enduring than the numbers, was the sense of ecstasy and artistry with which he played.

This book, except his most promising achievements in basketball, also highlights the things that happened in the life of Maravich and helped him to achieve such renowned success. Author has also discussed the sacrifices of maravich and the role of his family in his journey.

Final Verdict

Pick any of the above mentioned books that are very entertaining and informative at the same time. I assure you beside having fun, excitement and motivation you will get to know many things that happen in the life of basketball players and coaches.