Rivals Turned Idols

For fans of The Last Dance and Hanif Abdurraqib’s There’s Always This Year, the must-read story of the 1996 NBA Draft class—Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash— that turned the NBA into a global force and changed culture forever. In Rivals Turned Idols, a legendary class of players—Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, and Stephon Marbury—emerged not just as stars, but as architects of the modern game and the global phenomenon it would become. This is the story of how athletes became brands, how style and music merged with sport, and how the NBA expanded from American arenas to a worldwide stage. From Philadelphia playgrounds to Los Angeles spotlights to sold-out gyms in Beijing, the ripple effects of this class are still shaping the game and the culture around it today. Electric, deeply reported, and rich with cultural insight, Rivals Turned Idols is the story of the draft that turned a league into a global force, and rivals into icons.

Julian Kimble is a Howard University-educated senior copywriter who has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, GQ, The Ringer, Billboard, Complex, Pitchfork, and more. Rivals Turned Idols is his first book.