Best of Sports 2024: Best Team, Athlete & More

by Julian Spivey

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Team of the Year: Kansas City Chiefs (NFL)
There’s only one dynasty currently in professional sports: the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have won three of the last five Super Bowls, including two in a row, and they’ve been to four of the previous five Super Bowls. Led by coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, and defensive standout Chris Jones, this Chiefs squad has clinched a spot, in my opinion, as one of the five greatest teams in NFL history. And they’re poised to potentially add on this season with a current 11-1 record and have clinched a playoff berth already. Now, I understand they may not look like the best team currently in the NFL, but they always seem to find ways to pull out a victory, and that’s what winning teams do, even when they aren’t at their best.  

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Athlete of the Year: Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Over the last few years, my Athlete of the Year has been baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani, who I’ve often called a unicorn because he can do everything. While Ohtani was undoubtedly a candidate this year, winning the National League MVP, my pick is another rare unicorn of sorts in sports – Nikola Jokic, three-time NBA MVP center of the Denver Nuggets. The guy can do everything on the basketball court and does it while looking like the least athletic guy on the court. I don’t understand it. But you can’t argue with all-time great numbers. This year, Jokic has the opportunity to do something that has never been done in NBA history – lead the league in scoring, rebounding, and assists. He’s currently 4th in scoring, second in assists and first in rebounding. More likely is the opportunity to join Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players to average a triple-double in a season. 

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Coach of the Year: Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs)
Remember when people thought Andy Reid couldn’t win the big game? Now he’s a three-time Super Bowl-winning coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, including the last two consecutively. This year, he’s led his team to a ridiculous amount of come-from-behind or close last-minute victories to an 11-1 record, and there is still more than a month left in the season. There were certainly coaches who did a more surprising job in 2024, but I have to give it to the living legend. 

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​Game/Event of the Year: USA vs. Serbia (Olympic Basketball Semifinal)
The most exhilarating sporting event I saw this year was the Olympic Men’s Basketball semifinal game between the United States and Serbia. Serbia was in control almost the entire game, with dominant performances from Bojan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jokic. They looked to stun Team USA, which is always considered close to a lock to win the Olympic Gold Medal with its roster of NBA All-Stars. Late in the game, Stephen Curry got hot, and when Curry gets hot, we’ve seen from history that it could be the death knell for the opponent. Curry went 12-19 from the field, including 9-14 from three, scoring 36 points and leading Team USA to a thrilling comeback and victory. Team USA would go on to win the Olympic gold medal in another tight matchup against the home country of France. 

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Best Broadcaster: Rowdy Gaines & Lewis Johnson (NBC)
This year being an Olympic year reminded us all how great Rowdy Gaines is as an Olympic swimmer analyst. He has the perfect combination of enthusiasm (without being over-the-top) and knowledge of the sport; he’s a three-time Olympic gold medalist and likely would have won more had the U.S. not boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games.

I was so impressed by one particular moment from Lewis Johnson as a sideline reporter for the Olympic track and field events, in which he was widely hammered on social media for his performance, that I wrote an entire article about it in August. It may not have been popular among the masses when Johnson held the U.S. track and field men’s relay team to the fire, but as a journalist, it’s your job to get answers, and Johnson refused to back down. 

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Legend of the Year: Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal, one of the three-headed monster with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic that dominated the greatest era of men’s tennis, hung up his tennis racket this year. Nadal’s 22 Grand Slam titles are the second most in men’s tennis history, behind Djokovic’s 24. His 14 French Open wins are the most in that tournament’s history and for any Grand Slam tournament in tennis history, clinching Nadal’s status as the greatest clay tennis player ever. He’s also one of only three men’s tennis players to win the Golden Grand Slam career, winning all four Grand Slam titles plus an Olympic gold medal (Andre Agassi, Djokovic). Tennis is going to miss Nadal. 

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