Basketball’s Untold Stories with iHeartRadio, “Basketball, Etc. Host Claire de Lune

What if the best basketball stories have nothing to do with who’s the GOAT? Claire de Lune, host of the iHeartRadio podcast Basketball, Etc., joins Hoopsology to talk about building a show for fans who are tired of the shouting.

A musician by trade who fell for the game watching the 2016 NBA Finals, Claire came to basketball as an adult and built her following online. Her audience kept telling her the same thing: they wanted something more human than hot takes.

So she made it, even after being told a narrative sports podcast couldn’t get made in 2026. She walks us through the show’s first episode on meditation and mindfulness in basketball, a 35-minute story that took a full year to report and produce.

That reporting led her to George Mumford, who taught mindfulness alongside Phil Jackson to Michael Jordan’s Bulls and Kobe Bryant’s Lakers, and who told her Jordan and Kobe were two of his best students. She also shares what a player performance coach taught her about how emotional stress off the court can show up in an athlete’s body.

The conversation also covers: Why she thinks most basketball shows go stale within 48 hours How Basketball, Etc. works as an audio magazine with guest reporters ’90s nostalgia versus today’s NBA, and why she says the game keeps getting better The split among NBA stars over sports betting endorsements Why betting has made fan anger toward players more frightening The behind-the-scenes people who shape basketball history Her outlook on a wide-open NBA season after the league’s tanking rule changes If you love basketball for the people and the stories, this one is for you. 🏀 Subscribe to the Hoopsology Podcast for more basketball culture, NBA and WNBA interviews. 👉 Listen to Basketball, Etc. on the iHeart app or wherever you get your podcasts. 👉 Follow Claire de Lune at @ClaireMPLS and read her basketball coverage in The Guardian. 👉 Are you tired of hot-take basketball shows? Let us know in the comments. #NBA #BasketballEtc #ClairedeLune #iHeartRadio #BasketballPodcast #Hoopsology Learn more about your ad choices.

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