Brian Windhorst

Brian Windhorst (born January 29, 1978), nicknamed Windy, is an American sportswriter for ESPN.com who covers the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal from 2003 through the summer of 2008, and began to work for Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer in October 2008. He moved to ESPN in 2010 after LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

Brian Windhorst
Windhorst in 2023
Born (1978-01-29) January 29, 1978
NationalityAmerican
Alma materKent State University (BA)
OccupationSportswriter
Years active2000–present

Early life and education

Windhorst attended high school in Akron, Ohio at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, the same school that Lebron James would later attend,[1] and graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 2000.[2]

Career

Windhorst began covering James during his high school playing career,[2] and began covering the Cavaliers in 2003, the year that James was drafted.[1] While James was the youngest player in the NBA, Windhorst was the youngest traveling NBA beat writer.[3] In 2007, he co-wrote The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers with sports columnist Terry Pluto. His writing at The Plain Dealer was honored by the United States Basketball Writers Association for Best Game Story in 2009,[4] and by the Associated Press.

In 2010, Windhorst left The Plain Dealer for ESPN to cover James' new team, the Miami Heat.[5] Prior to leaving The Plain Dealer, he contributed columns to ESPN.com[1] and made appearances on ESPN First Take. In an interview, Windhorst stated that "obviously LeBron's a huge factor" in his decision to join ESPN,[6] but that the Cavaliers "need to move on" without James.[6]

On October 10, 2014, it was announced that Windhorst would join ESPN Cleveland on WKNR AM 850 in Cleveland to be their Cavaliers beat reporter and analyst, as well as host his own weekly program on sister station WWGK AM 1540. The move followed James' re-signing with the Cavaliers in 2014.[7]

In addition to writing for ESPN, Windhorst hosts the popular Hoop Collective podcast.[8] He lives in Omaha, Nebraska.[9]

On February 10, 2022, Windhorst received significant acclaim for besting one of the premier NBA reporters, Adrian Wojnarowski, on James Harden's 2022 trade from the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers. Wojnarowski had publicly refuted Windhorst's reporting on trade talks occurring between the two teams. Despite his ESPN colleague's claims, Windhorst adamantly reported serious trade talks were occurring. Windhorst was proven correct the following day when Harden was traded for Ben Simmons in a blockbuster trade.[10]

Publications
  • Pluto, Terry and Windhorst, Brian (2007). The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-028-7
  • Pluto, Terry and Windhorst, Brian (2009). LeBron James: The Making of an MVP. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-059-1
  • McMenamin, David and Windhorst, Brian (2017). Return of the King: LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Greatest Comeback in NBA History. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1478971689
  • Windhorst, Brian (2019). LeBron, Inc.: The Making of a Billion-Dollar Athlete. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing ISBN 978-1538730874

References
  1. Cleveland Cavaliers News (2007). Q&A with Brian Windhorst Archived June 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Retriever October 8, 2008.
  2. Kruse, Michael (2010-11-21). "Stories of LeBron and sportswriter intertwined, tangled". St. Petersburg Times. Times Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 2011-08-24. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
  3. McIntyre, Lessa. "An Interview with Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal". Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  4. Plain Dealer staff (2010-02-21). "Plain Dealer reporters Mark Puente and Brian Windhorst win national awards for their work". The Plain Dealer. Advance Publications.
  5. Smeltz, Nate (October 4, 2010). "ESPN.com to Launch "The Heat Index" Oct. 11". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2010. Windhorst will be based in Miami as one of two regular beat writers assigned to the team.
  6. Vince Grzegorek. "Q&A With Brian Windhorst About his Departure to ESPN". Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  7. Windhorst joins WKNR/WWGK - ESPN Cleveland.com Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Brian Windhorst & the Hoop Collective Show - PodCenter".
  9. @WindhorstESPN (9 March 2017). "@cl4grassfairy I live in Omaha. Next time say hello" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. "Adrian Wojnarowski, Brian Windhorst Have Wildly Different Reports on Ben Simmons-James Harden Trade". The Big Lead. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
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