Lev Akabas
@levakabas
NBA 🏀 & sports business 💵 data viz 📊 for Sportico All opinions are my own
Last season LeBron James averaged 20.9 points per game. Before him, no 41-year-old had ever averaged more than 10.1 What will he average this season?
LeBron James has more Instagram followers than Steph, Westbrook, Kyrie, Klay, Giannis, and KD combined
MLB games used to be longer than Oppenheimer Now, thanks to the pitch clock, they are only as long as The Dark Knight Rises!
LeBron James has made $581 million in salary over his career, $351 million of which came during his seven seasons with the Lakers
The Odyssey is one of the most Nolan-y Christopher Nolan films I think it checks off all but two of the boxes on this chart
The New York Mets are 43-60, the third worst record in the NL, despite having the highest payroll in MLB
The Boston Red Sox lost last night, ending their winning streak at 15 games Here's the longest streak for every NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL franchise ⬇️
World Cup players with 100M+ Instagram followers 1️⃣ Ronaldo - 677M 2️⃣ Messi - 515M 3️⃣ Neymar - 242M 4️⃣ Mbappe - 135M
Women ranked 3 through 10 in prize money have made more than the men ranked 3 through 10 at every slot
2026 tennis prize money update 🎾💰🧵 Jannik Sinner ($11.6M) and Alexander Zverev ($9M) are way ahead of everyone else Read more: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lyXX4
Erling Haaland gained the most Instagram followers during the FIFA World Cup (+32.1 million) Next was Cape Verde goalie Vozinha, who went from a nobody to 29.4 million followers in just a few weeks
The Dark Knight is Nolan's highest-rated film on IMDB and @letterboxd.social
The Odyssey is Nolan's second longest film, after Oppenheimer Generally, his movies have gotten longer over time, with the exception of Dunkirk
It's Odyssey day! Here's a 🧵 of Christopher Nolan data viz 🎥🍿📊 Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway are each making their 3rd appearance in the Nolan-verse with The Odyssey He worked with Michael Caine on 8 consecutive films
Vinod Khosla, who has agreed to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 billion, would be by far the biggest Democratic donor among NFL owners Data 📊 and story ✏️ from me and @ebennovywilliams.bsky.social: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzG6g
Argentina 🇦🇷, amazingly, has scored the majority of its goals after the 80th minute in this World Cup (Stoppage time goals plotted at 90' for simplicity)
The night the New York Knicks won the title, more New Yorkers took the subway between midnight and 5 am than on New Year's Eve!
The Home Run Derby still draws ~6 million viewers each year, even as All-Star Game viewership in just about every sport continues to decline precipitously
Tech billionaire Vinod Khosla and his family have reached an agreement to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 billion It’s the largest valuation ever for an NFL team in a control transaction, surpassing the Washington Commanders ($6.05 billion)
Jannik Sinner is a beast... now 172-8 in non Alcaraz matches since the start of 2024 He is your 2026 Wimbledon champion 🏆
Linda Noskova 🇨🇿 beat Karolina Muchova 🇨🇿 in an all-Czech women's Wimbledon final Czechia has produced six Grand Slam singles finalists in the past decade, plus doubles No. 1 Karolina Siniakova. Three other Czech women aged 20 or younger are already ranked in the top 50
Nordic combined skiing is OUT as a Winter Olympics sport in 2030 Freeride skiing & snowboarding is IN Synchronized skating ("Synchro9") will up the number of figure skating medal events from 5 to 6 Read more: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzFRu
The NBA salary cap is double what is was a decade ago, but teams are spending significantly less in free agency There are a lot of factors at play here (increase in early contract extensions, harsher overspending penalties, etc.) but it shows how the NBA offseason has changed
"America thought this time would be different and that the USMNT could pull off a miracle. The World Cup doesn’t work that way... The U.S. just doesn’t have enough quality players" - Luke Cyphers for @sportico.bsky.social @lukecyphers.bsky.social ✏️: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzFOu
Wimbledon rallies are more than a full shot shorter than Roland Garros on average Tennis surfaces are more similar than they were in the early 2000s, but the jump from clay to grass is still huge
Coco Gauff wins a higher percentage of 3-set Grand Slam matches than any other top women's tennis player
Regardless of where you fall on the Jaylen Brown debate, it is pretty remarkable that the Boston Celtics were better with him off the court than on the court over his entire 10-year tenure with the team
Rookie contract values for NBA draft lottery picks ⬇️ A pretty steep drop-off, as No. 1 pick Dybantsa will make $67.1 million over four years, but No. 11 pick Yaxel Lendeborg will make only $28.2 million