Expensive Basketball

Shea Serrano

$49.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Grand Central Publishing
01 February 2026

Sociology: sport & leisure; Sports & outdoor recreation; Basketball

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Rap Year Book and Basketball (and Other Things), a clever and inventive examination of some of basketball's most iconic players, moments, games, and more.

Everything in basketball is measured. Everything in basketball is counted, and quantified, and computed. And yet, no matter how expansive the list of various pinpoint-specific statistical categories gets, some basketball things remain uncountable, and unquantifiable.

Some moments are more poetry than calculation; more art than numerical value; more feeling than data processing. And thus: Expensive Basketball.

From the final 196 seconds of Kobe Bryant's playing career to the Sue Bird backpedal, from the erosive terror of Tim Duncan to the Larry Bird memory carousel, Expensive Basketball is an affirmation of feelings.

It's an affirmation of basketball as virtuosity.

It's an affirmation of how sometimes you watch a person perform on the basketball court and it feels the same way it does when you lie in the grass at night and stare up at the moon for long enough that you start to think about how incredible it is that you really, truly, honestly, actually exist.

By: Shea Serrano
Imprint: Grand Central Publishing
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 580g
ISBN: 9781538755228
ISBN 10: 153875522X
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Shea Serrano is an author, journalist, and podcaster. He's the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Rap Year Book, Basketball (And Other Things), Movies (And Other Things), and Hip-Hop (And Other Things). He lives in Texas with his family.

Reviews for Expensive Basketball

""Serrano is one of the few writers whose on-the-page enthusiasm is infectious, who can describe a particular spin move executed during a regular season game from 2006 and successfully transfer his excitement about it to the reader--even if you didn't watch that game, never cared about that team, are only hearing about that player for the first time.""--LitHub, Most Anticipated List