1) 1973: Knicks over Lakers. Cover: Bobby Riggs beats Margaret Court

According to Sports Illustrated, the NBA Finals were not quite as interesting or notable in the late ’50s and early ’60s as horse shows, roulette, or snorkeling. While those “sports” were getting cover stories, the NBA Finals wasn’t highlighted as such until 1966, when John Havlicek graced the front page. It became a yearly tradition for the magazine starting in 1969, with a championship win granting a cover shot to Havlicek again, then Dave DeBusschere, Oscar Robertson, and Wilt Chamberlain. But in 1973, despite a heavyweight, star-studded battle between the Knicks and Lakers, SI featured tennis huckster Riggs. The occasion was Riggs’ “Battle of the Sexes” tennis exhibition, but not the one you’d expect. A few months before he was infamously defeated by Billie Jean King, Riggs won a match against Margaret Court, inspiring the cold take headline “Never Bet Against This Man.”

2) 2015: Warriors over Cavaliers. Cover: Jordan Spieth wins the U.S. Open

In retrospect, the 2015 NBA Finals were a landmark affair, the first of four consecutive battles between Stephen Curry’s Warriors and LeBron James’ Cavaliers. But the series was a secondary footnote in Sports Illustrated for four straight weeks. The magazine previewed the upcoming Women’s World Cup on June 8 with a cover featuring several U.S. team stars, honored American Pharoah on June 15 for the horse’s triple crown victory, and called the Chicago Blackhawks a “modern dynasty” on June 22 after their Stanley Cup win. On June 29, an article speculating on the Warriors’ future dominance was included but Spieth’s face was on the cover, after winning golf’s U.S. Open. When the Cavaliers won the rematch in 2016, LeBron James was on the June 27 cover and later named Sportsperson of the Year.

3) 1975: Warriors over Bullets. Cover: Billy Martin manages the Rangers

With a sudden dearth of star players, the ABA pulling in fans, and the NCAA Tournament rising in popularity, the mid-to-late ’70s were a sallow time for public interest in the NBA. This extended to its presence in Sports Illustrated, which featured cover stories in the spring of 1975 on a Soviet strongman competitor, a Tanzanian runner, and a Brazilian soccer player (ok it was Pele, but still), but not the NBA Finals. Buffalo’s Gar Heard was on the cover that April for a general NBA playoffs check-in, but when Rick Barry’s Warriors defeated the Bullets for the title, Martin got the nod instead. The firebrand baseball manager was labelled a “genius” on the SI cover but his Rangers were in the midst of disappointing season that would get him fired just a few weeks later. Barry had been on the magazine jacket earlier in the ’74-’75 season, one of five cover appearances during his career.

4) 1978: Bullets over Sonics. Cover: Affirmed wins the Triple Crown

Once a staple of its cover selections, Sports Illustrated has given horse racing front-and-center treatment just four times in the last 40 years. This was a reflection of the waning interest nationwide in the one-time sport of kings, where in the ’70s, triple crown winners Secretariat and Seattle Slew became media sensations, household names, and SI cover subjects. Affirmed joined those ranks in 1978, clinching the triple crown with a Belmont win in a photo finish that provided a dramatic cover shot. Short shrift was give the Bullets winning the first championship in franchise history, which also featured a dramatic finish in game seven. The magazine generally disrespected league and Finals MVP Wes Unseld, who was on the cover just twice in his career, both times incidentally in the background of the actual cover subject.

5) 1981: Celtics over Rockets. Cover: A.J. Foyt and an Indianapolis 500 preview

When the Rockets stunned the Lakers in the first round of the 1981 playoffs, the odds of an NBA Finals cover story dropped precipitously. The thrilling Eastern Conference Finals Celtics win over the Sixers was on the cover of Sports Illustrated on May 11, featuring Boston’s Kevin McHale. When the Celtics clinched the NBA Finals over Houston two weeks later, Larry Bird was disregarded in favor of Foyt. The legendary race car driver was seeking an unprecedented fifth Indianapolis 500 victory and was thus the headliner of the magazine’s race preview. Bird had been on the SI cover during the 1980 playoffs and would appear nine more times in his Celtics uniform, including during the 1986 and 1987 NBA Finals. As for Foyt, the then 46-year-old finished a disappointing 14th place in 1981 and never did win an Indy 500 again in his career.

---

---

6) 1982: Lakers over 76ers. Cover: Larry Holmes defeats Gerry Cooney

Lest you think the arrival of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson changed public perception of the NBA overnight, consider that for a second straight year in 1982, the NBA Finals failed to make a Sports Illustrated cover. Two of the four June issues that year were instead dedicated to a boxing match between Holmes and Cooney. Holmes was the undefeated heavyweight champion but the main enthusiasm for the fight was Cooney, whom promoter Don King had dubbed “The Great White Hope.” A match preview graced the cover on June 7, followed by a recap of Holmes’ victory on June 21. In between, Johnson earned his second Finals MVP as the Lakers defeated the Sixers. It could have been on the cover on June 14 but lest you think only the NBA had a reputation in the early ’80s for substance abuse, SI instead had a cover story on cocaine use in the NFL.

7) 1989: Pistons over Lakers. Cover: Curtis Strange wins U.S. Open
8) 1990: Pistons over Trail Blazers. Cover: Hale Irwin wins U.S. Open

Even in the days before ESPN.com, social media, and push notifications, major sports events could be old news within a week. This was the case in 1989, when the Pistons finished their NBA Finals sweep of the Lakers on June 13, the day after Sports Illustrated had published a cover story on Bo Jackson. A week later, not only did SI feature the more recent event of a Sugar Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns boxing match, the Pistons were overlooked as the sub-header in favor of teenager Michael Chang winning the tennis French Open. Then, on June 26, it was Strange’s U.S. Open golf victory. A year later the Pistons were snubbed again. Their Conference Finals victory over the Bulls was the cover story on June 11 but their subsequent title win over the Blazers was deemed less cover worthy than George Steinbrenner, Monica Seles, Jack Nicklaus, and Irwin.

9) 1994: Rockets over Knicks. Cover: U.S. defeats Colombia in World Cup

The spring of 1994 was not a good time for the NBA public relations team. It was bad enough that the league was battling fan ennui after Michael Jordan’s retirement. Then you add in publicity blitzes for the U.S. hosting soccer’s World Cup, the New York Rangers winning their first Stanley Cup in 50 years, and Kevin Griffey, Jr. leading an assault on baseball’s record books. To top it off, you add in one of the most famous athletes in history getting arrested for murder during game three of the NBA Finals. Right before a June 27 Sports Illustrated cover story on O.J. Simpson and a July 4 issue highlighting the World Cup, game one of the Rockets-Knicks was technically featured on June 20. But it was only in service of an article which deemed the NHL “hot” and the NBA “not,” and referred to the Rockets as “charisma-less” and the Knicks as “thuggish.”

10) 2000: Lakers over Pacers. Cover: Tiger Woods wins U.S. Open

The Lakers were all over Sports Illustrated during their ’99-’00 title season. Phil Jackson was on the cover for the yearly NBA preview, Shaquille O’Neal was front-and-center for a mid-season check-in, and Kobe Bryant was the cover subject not once, but twice, during their Conference Finals win over the Trail Blazers. But their subsequent NBA Finals victory over the Pacers got short shrift. Above the right shoulder of of Tiger Woods, who was featured after dominating the field at the U.S. Open, was a small, purple-and-gold box that read “Lakers take it!” Of course, this was just the beginning of a new Lakers dynasty. O’Neal made four more SI cover appearances in a Lakers uniform, including after the 2001 and 2002 Finals victories. Bryant would appear 15 more times, most notably after his 2001 and 2010 championships.

---