Lev Akabas

New York

#SportsBiz and NBA 🏀 data viz 📊. Data Reporter at @Sportico, previously @nytimes and @SLAMonline, all opinions are my own

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Articles

Cade Cunningham Gains $45 Million From All-NBA Honors

2 weeks ago | sportico.com | Lev Akabas

The Detroit Pistons won a playoff game this season for the first time since 2008, back when Antonio McDyess led the team in scoring against Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics. While the Pistons posted their best attendance numbers in 16 years amid a dramatic business turnaround, the franchise isn’t the only party to benefit financially. Point guard Cade Cunningham was rewarded with a 2025 All-NBA Third-Team honor Friday, which comes with a $45 million pay raise.
Cade Cunningham Gains $45 Million From All-NBA Honors

2 weeks ago | sports.yahoo.com | Lev Akabas

The Detroit Pistons won a playoff game this season for the first time since 2008, back when Antonio McDyess led the team in scoring against Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics. While the Pistons posted their best attendance numbers in 16 years amid a dramatic business turnaround, the franchise isn’t the only party to benefit financially. Point guard Cade Cunningham was rewarded with a 2025 All-NBA Third-Team honor Friday, which comes with a $45 million pay raise.
Tennis Prize Money Tracker: Which Player Has Earned the Most in 2025?

2 weeks ago | sports.yahoo.com | Lev Akabas

With $4.54 million in tournament winnings, Aryna Sabalenka is this year’s leader in tennis prize money through May 23. The women’s world No. 1 lost the Australian Open final in January, but has since won the Miami Open and the Madrid Open, earning more than $1 million for each victory. Carlos Alcaraz ranks second with $3.98 million in year-to-date on-court winnings.
NBA Semis Could Boost Stars' Lagging Social Media Presences

2 weeks ago | sportico.com | Lev Akabas

The 2025 NBA conference finalists—the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers—are an atypical group of contenders. Only one (the Thunder) is a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, and none have won an NBA championship since the 1970s. They also have stars still in the process of building their profile. None of the 25 most-followed active NBA players on Instagram are on a team still in the postseason.
NBA Semis Could Boost Stars’ Lagging Social Media Presences

2 weeks ago | sports.yahoo.com | Lev Akabas

The 2025 NBA conference finalists—the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers—are an atypical group of contenders. Only one (the Thunder) is a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, and none have won an NBA championship since the 1970s. They also have stars still in the process of building their profile. None of the 25 most-followed active NBA players on Instagram are on a team still in the postseason.
The winner of the NFL's Social Super Bowl is...

3 weeks ago | club.sportico.com | Eben Novy-Williams |Jacob Feldman |Lev Akabas

Welcome back to Club Sportico, where we break down the intersection of sports and money—with an extra bit of humor and opinion. Today, we rank all 32 NFL social media teams…If you spent any time on social media last night, you undoubtedly noticed that NFL teams have released their 2025 schedules. Over the past few years, this announcement has turned into one of the most important days of the year for people who work in an NFL team’s social media, marketing or ticket sales departments.
WNBA Star Popularity Is Unlike Other U.S. Sports Leagues

3 weeks ago | sportico.com | Lev Akabas

The WNBA enters its 29th season with important labor negotiations on the horizon after the players union opted out of the current collective bargaining agreement back in October. While many of the discussion topics will be similar to those of other leagues’ CBA talks, the dynamics are different because of where fans’ allegiances lie within the sport. Using Instagram following as a proxy for popularity, WNBA star players appear to have more broad appeal than the teams for which they play.
Jayson Tatum’s Achilles Rupture Extends NBA Playoff Injury Trend

3 weeks ago | sportico.com | Lev Akabas

The second round of the NBA playoffs are only halfway done, and five All-Stars have already suffered injuries during these playoffs: Stephen Curry, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum. Tatum, the star Boston Celtics forward, ruptured his Achilles in their Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night, the Celtics announced on Tuesday. Tatum also sat out a game in the first round with a bone bruise in his right wrist.
Club Sportico: A Historic Papal Conclave, By the Numbers

4 weeks ago | sportico.com | Jacob Feldman |Eben Novy-Williams |Lev Akabas

This week’s Club Sportico steps outside our normal sports discussion to apply an athletics-minded perspective to the big news out of the Vatican City. Eben: I was sitting at my Bloomberg desk in March 2013 when Scott Soshnick (now Sportico’s editor-in-chief) came to me with an idea. The Cardinals were in conclave to pick Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, and one of the frontrunners was an Archbishop named Angelo Scola.
Club Sportico: A Historic Papal Conclave, by the Numbers

4 weeks ago | sports.yahoo.com | Jacob Feldman |Eben Novy-Williams |Lev Akabas

This week’s Club Sportico steps outside our normal sports discussion to apply an athletics-minded perspective to the big news out of the Vatican City. Eben: I was sitting at my Bloomberg desk in March 2013 when Scott Soshnick (now Sportico’s editor-in-chief) came to me with an idea. The Cardinals were in conclave to pick Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, and one of the frontrunners was an Archbishop named Angelo Scola.