Louisa Thomas

1 week ago | newyorker.com | Louisa Thomas

When Tyrese Haliburton shoots, his right hand almost cups the side of the ball. His right elbow is akimbo. He uses odd footwork, jabbing almost randomly, and sometimes skips and hops into his shots. In his shooting stance, his knees sometimes knock. He starts his shot with a quick little dip, then swings around, and barely sets. He flails left, falls right; like a little kid, he seems to chuck the ball toward the basket. It’s an almost embarrassing motion.

2 weeks ago | newyorker.com | Louisa Thomas

The seven-foot-one-inch center Chet Holmgren, who was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the second pick of the 2022 N.B.A. draft, was immediately anointed as a star. Fans soon started dreaming of a career-long rivalry between him and the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, another seven-footer, who was drafted No. 1, in 2023.

3 weeks ago | newyorker.com | Louisa Thomas

Kim Ng had big plans. For more than thirty years, ever since she was an intern for the Chicago White Sox, she had spent her summers working long hours. She eventually became an assistant general manager, first for the New York Yankees and then for the Los Angeles Dodgers, before becoming a senior vice-president at Major League Baseball. In 2020, she was named the general manager for the Miami Marlins—making her the first woman ever to serve as a G.M. in a major men’s sports league.

1 month ago | newyorker.com | Louisa Thomas

Gaël Monfils made his first appearance at the French Open twenty years ago. He was eighteen years old, and one of the most promising players of his generation. The previous year, he had won three out of the four junior Grand Slams. (Andy Murray won the fourth.) His speed was astonishing, as was his charisma. He had a preternatural connection with the crowd, wowing and delighting people wherever he went.

1 month ago | newyorker.com | Louisa Thomas

Bill Belichick, one of the winningest coaches in N.F.L. history, and currently the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, took the title of his new book, “The Art of Winning,” from “The Art of War,” an ancient Chinese treatise about military strategy, attributed to Sun Tzu.