Zach Harper
The Athletic HQ
Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Past articles by Zach:
Brooklyn Nets offseason recap: Grades, preseason tier, changes, end of 2022-23 goal
After a newsworthy summer, Brooklyn still goes into the season with what is — on paper — a potential title-contending roster. → Read More
NBA playoffs daily results: Warriors, Bucks take series openers on the road
Zach Harper breaks down the key stat, the moment of the game and more from Sunday's action. → Read More
James Harden, Ben Simmons highlight 76ers-Nets mega-trade: Instant grades and reaction
Two All-Stars are swapping teams in the East in a deal we couldn't have foreseen a month ago. → Read More
NBA Playoffs scores, results: Sixers muscle Wizards; Suns bully Lakers; Hawks quiet MSG; Grizzlies steal one
Everything you need to know to get caught up following Sunday's NBA Playoffs action. → Read More
Where's Steph Curry in the MVP race now?: Zach Harper's NBA Awards Rankings update
In this week's rankings update for all major NBA awards, Zach Harper focuses on the MVP race and Curry's incredible April surge. → Read More
Bucks move into top spot in NBA Power Rankings, plus who's been ballin' lately for each team?
This week, Zach Harper looks at random, recent stretches of basketball for each team and tries to figure out what is real and what isn't. → Read More
NBA All-Star Weekend 2021: Your flowchart guide to following action – The Athletic
All-Star festivities will look different this year. Here's what could (and should) keep your interest during the one-day extravaganza. → Read More
The Athletic's NBA Power Rankings: Predictions that are looking good ... and bad
The Kings — yes, the Kings — are the biggest riser this week. Zach Harper analyzes what he said about each team this preseason. → Read More
Live Q&A: Semi-Pro Watch Party with Zach Harper on Monday, March 30 at 5 pm PST – The Athletic
Monday night at 5pm PT/8pm ET, stop by and watch Semi-Pro with Zach Harper. → Read More
What to watch on streaming services: The basketball edition
Streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime contain a treasure trove of basketball programming. Zach Harper's recommendations. → Read More
The Athletic’s NBA Power Rankings Week 14: Roller coaster of a season – The Athletic
With the exception of a few teams, the league continues its streak of unpredictable play. Welcome to week 14 of our NBA Power Rankings. → Read More
Instant reactions and grades: The Rockets acquire former MVP nemesis Russell Westbrook – The Athletic
Let's break down the trade and toss out some grades. → Read More
LeBron James owes Cavaliers nothing and is doing right thing
It’s a tired thing to keep coming back to, but the letter from Dan Gilbert to Cleveland Cavaliers fans still looms large. The letter in Comic Sans font stayed up on the Cavs’ website for four years. It trashed LeBron James for thinking about his legacy over the team owner’s pocketbook. Gilbert skewered LeBron, questioning […] → Read More
Danny Ainge Has Ample Flexibility To Move Marcus Smart For High Price
Restricted free agency used to be a place to leverage offer sheets against an incumbent team’s narrowing window for making a commitment. Players and agents would go out at midnight of the stroke of free agency to talk to other teams, which knew they had to overpay the restricted free agent to force the incumbent […] → Read More
Harper | My 2018 NBA All-Star Game Reserves
The 2018 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles is just about set. We know the starters that fans, media, and players voted into the game. It happened to match my selections of who should be a starter this year. Tuesday night, we find out the rest of the All-Star teams for both the East and […] → Read More
Harper | My 2018 NBA All-Star Game Starters
The starters will be announced Thursday night on TNT for the 2018 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. We had a curveball thrown our way with the construction of the teams. Players still get voted in via the fan voting, player voting, media voting and coach ballots; 10 starters get guaranteed onto the team, but […] → Read More
Have The Cavaliers Kept The Respect Of The Warriors?
Normally, the Golden State Warriors wouldn’t entertain the idea of a type of opponent being worthy of their respect. A lot of teams can come out swinging versus the Warriors and push them early. They can build a lead against Golden State and start feeling really good about their abilities to slay the giant. In […] → Read More
Zach LaVine's Return Adds A Lot Of Potential To The Bulls
The big “wait-and-see” aspect of the Jimmy Butler trade for the Chicago Bulls didn’t center around Lauri Markkanen. The seventh pick in the 2017 NBA Draft was always going to get to play right away. We would track his progress immediately and start analyzing whether or not he could look like an impact player. Kris […] → Read More
Thunder still lack offensive rhythm 2 months into season
The 2010-11 Miami Heat tend to be the comparison whenever a team full of newly banded star players gets together and struggles out of the gate. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh started 9-8 as the critics killed the three men who celebrated getting together with a pro wrestling-style laser show. The championship parade […] → Read More
No more qualifiers to clear — Kyle Kuzma is good
It’s only summer league. Eventually, he’ll come crashing back to earth when the competition gets more serious. It’s only the preseason. When the games start to matter, it won’t be as easy to score in the manner he does. Now the games matter and Los Angeles Lakers rookie Kyle Kuzma still doesn’t seem to have […] → Read More