As the magazine moves to bi-weekly distribution and more emphasis on special editions for championship teams, here's a look back at several times when the former paper of record for newsworthy sports milestones opted to ignore the NBA in favor of a different event in the world of athletic competition.
1) 1973: Knicks over Lakers. Cover: Bobby Riggs beats Margaret Court
Not quite as popular in the late '50s and early '60s as Horse Shows, Roulette, or Snorkeling, the NBA Finals first graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1966, featuring John Havlicek of the champion Celtics. It disappeared again the next year, but became a (mostly) annual tradition starting in 1969 (again featuring Havlicek). In the subsequent three years Dave DeBusschere, Oscar Robertson, and Wilt Chamberlain represented their respective championship teams on the SI jacket, but in 1973, despite the dramatics of Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and the Knicks defeating Chamberlain, Jerry West, and the Lakers, Sports Illustrated chose to center its issue around tennis-playing huckster Bobby Riggs. The occasion was Riggs' first of three scheduled "Battle of the Sexes" tennis exhibitions, but not his famed loss to Billie Jean King which would come months later. This was actually the first match, against then current star Margaret Court, whom Riggs defeated handily. In an ironic twist, Sports Illustrated went with the headline "Never Bet Against This Man" to describe Riggs, then one week later highlighted the sexism of sports with the headline "Women Are Getting a Raw Deal."
2) 2015: Warriors over Cavaliers. Cover: Jordan Spieth wins the U.S. Open
Definitely the most surprising entry on this list, as the 2015 Finals featured LeBron James leading Cleveland back to the promised land and Stephen Curry carrying the Warriors to their first title in 40 years. But the series was a secondary footnote in SI for four straight weeks, starting with the June 8th issue that previewed the Women's World Cup, followed by the June 15th edition that highlighted American Pharoah's triple crown, the June 22nd issue that gave cover space to the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup, and the June 29th issue headlined by Spieth's U.S. Open victory. Though this was the most shocking omission so far by Sports Illustrated, it's exceedingly likely that it won't be the last, as the magazine cut back to bi-weekly distribution starting in January of 2018.
3) 1975: Warriors over Bullets. Cover: Billy Martin coaches the Rangers
The 1975 NBA playoffs were not particularly exciting for casual fans. The Bullets, led by Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, powered through the Eastern Conference, first upending the Buffalo Braves and reigning MVP Bob McAdoo, then the popular Celtics starring John Havlicek, a man who had already been featured on the SI cover for three previous championships. Meanwhile, the Warriors took advantage of a power vacuum in the West, left by the struggles of the increasingly disgruntled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and his Bucks. While the biggest star wattage seemed to be powering the ABA (Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel led the Colonels against George McGinnis and the Pacers in the 1975 ABA Finals), the NBA match-up was one only a hardcore fan could love. Sports Illustrated dedicated just three covers to the NBA during the '74-'75 season, one for a profile of a rookie Bill Walton, one for a profile of Rick Barry, and an overview of the playoffs second round, featuring Buffalo's Gar Heard. The Billy Martin cover story that obfuscated the Warriors-Bullets Finals result was a fluff piece, and the firebrand Rangers manager was canned just six weeks later.
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, which came about due in large part to a lack of triple crown winners. Before American Pharoah matched the feat in 2015, Affirmed had been the last triple crown winner back in 1978. Affirmed's victory was actually the third time a triple crown had been won in a six year stretch. All three of those thoroughbreds became media sensations, household names, and Sports Illustrated cover subjects: Affirmed, Secretariat, Seattle Slew. While Affirmed edging out rival Alydar (who finished second in all three Triple Crown races) in the Belmont provided the dramatic cover, short shrift was given to the Bullets winning their first championship in franchise history, in a dramatic seven-game series victory over the Sonics. When the teams met in a rematch the next year and Seattle won the series in five, their star guard Gus Williams graced the corresponding SI cover.
5) 1981: Celtics over Rockets. Cover: A.J. Foyt and an Indianapolis 500 preview
When Houston stunned the Lakers in the first round of the 1981 playoffs, they denied the cross-country Bird vs. Magic NBA Finals match-up that so many fans wanted to see. With no other powerhouses in the West, Boston's Conference Finals battle with the Sixers was considered a de facto NBA championship, and Sports Illustrated celebrated the Celtics coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win by splashing Kevin McHale on the cover. After Boston easily defeated the Rockets for the first championship of Bird's career, SI instead focused on the upcoming Indianapolis 500 with a feature story on legendary driver A.J. Foyt. Having won a position on the first row, Foyt looked poised to win his unprecedented fifth Borg-Warner trophy (he was already the only driver at the time with four, though Al Unser and Rick Mears have since joined him on that list) and SI deemed him the greatest racer of all time. Instead, the then 46-year-old Foyt finished a disappointing 14th and would never win the Indy 500 again in his career.
6) 1982: Lakers over 76ers. Cover: Larry Holmes defeats Gerry Cooney
As curious as overlooking Larry Bird's first championship seems in retrospect, the 1982 Finals might be even more suspect. Sure, this was Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's second championship in three years with the Lakers, so it was becoming old hat already for them. But it was Pat Riley's first (he was the central subject of the championship feature article) and it came at the expense of Julius Erving and the high-flying 76ers. Having already displayed covers for the two Conference Championship victories (Sixers over Celtics and Lakers over Spurs), SI concentrated this time on Larry Holmes, then still undefeated, defending his heavyweight title against Gerry Cooney. The Vegas based brawl was highly publicized, due in large part to Cooney being considered the first serious white heavyweight contender since Rocky Marciano in the '50s (Don King labelled him "The Great White Hope"). Cooney fought admirably, but Holmes won by TKO in the 14th round. Holmes held the title and his undefeated record for three more years, until consecutive losses to Michael Spinks sent his career into a tailspin. Johnson would eventually grace the cover again after the Lakers' championship in 1987.
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
1989 is a case where the timing was a little off. The Pistons held a 3-0 series lead when the 6/19 edition of SI, featuring Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns, went to press, so by the time the 6/26 issue was released, the Pistons had already been champions for a week. Even back then, in the early days of SportsCenter and with no Internet, anything that happened seven days ago was already old news. It's therefore understandable why SI chose to press on with Curtis Strange winning his second consecutive U.S. Open. As noted on the cover, he joined Ben Hogan as the only modern players to do so, a record that still stands. At least that Finals series featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's swan song and the first championship in Detroit franchise history. The next year's series was decidedly less hyped, with the relatively unpopular Pistons winning against the small-market Blazers. It didn't help that mass rioting and looting in downtown Detroit immediately followed the championship, leading to eight reported deaths, a story that Sports Illustrated took note of but probably didn't want to sprawl across the cover. Instead, they went with Hale Irwin, who became the oldest-ever U.S. Open champ, at the age of 45.
9) 1994: Rockets over Knicks. Cover: U.S. defeats Colombia in World Cup
This was not a good playoffs season for the NBA, at least in terms of media coverage. It was bad enough that the league was battling fan ennui after Michael Jordan's retirement, but also a blitz of publicity that spring and summer for the first World Cup in the U.S., the popular New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup, and Ken Griffey Jr. leading an assault on the MLB record books. Then Sports Illustrated used a picture from game one of the Finals between Houston and New York just to highlight how the NHL was "hot" and the NBA was "not." The article called the Knicks "thuggish" and the Rockets "charisma-less," and further insult was added to injury when the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase took TV precedence over a terse and exciting game five between the Rockets and Knicks. Simpson was, of course, on the next SI cover, which went to press with the Finals tied 3-3. By the time SI could slap together a feature on the Rockets being champs, the passé news was trumped by America's shocking upset of Colombia in the first round of the World Cup.
10) 2000: Lakers over Pacers. Cover: Tiger Woods wins U.S. Open
With Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal leading the way, the Lakers were a true powerhouse at the turn of the century, consistently pulling out tough series against exemplary Western Conference competition in San Antonio, Portland, and Sacramento. But once they reached the Finals, the opposing talent was left wanting, save for maybe one star player, a Reggie Miller, Allen Iverson or Jason Kidd. When Los Angeles won their first championship of the era, in 2000, Sports Illustrated had already dedicated two previous issues to their Conference Finals showdown with the Blazers. Subsequently, their ho-hum series win over Indiana was relegated to a simple box on the cover that read "Lakers Take It!" while Tiger Woods was placed front and center. Woods had just won his third Grand Slam major, in an absolute decimation of the Pebble Beach course that still stands as the most dominant major victory of all-time (a 15-stroke win over second place, Ernie Els). Kobe and Shaq would each make Finals cover appearances in both of the next two seasons.