The 5 Wildest Sports Moments of Summer 2024

The end of summer is rapidly approaching, which means the fall sports season is right around the corner.

The NFL already has opened preseason play, while the college football season kicks off on Aug. 24. The MLB playoff push is in full swing, and the WNBA is enjoying a monumental 2024 season.

As excited as we are for fall, the summer sports season has been one to remember. It brought legendary performances at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the pro emergence of two women’s basketball phenoms, thrilling international soccer tournaments and gripping storylines in baseball and men’s basketball.

As the summer of 2024 wanes, here are the season’s five wildest sports stories:

Simone Biles dominates Paris Olympics at 27

Had Simone Biles retired from Olympic competition after the Tokyo Games in 2021, she would be one of the most decorated Olympians of all time . Instead, she rebounded from a bout with the “twisties” that derailed her run in the last Olympics and led the U.S. to gold in the women’s team all-around event . She added a pair of individual golds in the all-around and vault and a silver in the individual floor exercise.

Biles, 27, now boasts seven Olympic golds and 11 total medals in her career, putting her second all-time among gymnasts in both categories, and first among all Olympic gymnasts since Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union in 1964. She may not be done, either.

“You know, you never say never,” Biles said when asked about competing at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. “The next Olympics is on home turf. So you just never know.”

Caitlin Clark sets WNBA record with 19- assist game

Caitlin Clark began her WNBA career just weeks after the conclusion of a legendary college run at Iowa, and the Indiana Fever sharpshooter really started to come along ahead of the All-Star Game and Olympic break. Right before the break, she made league history.

Clark scored 24 points and dished out a WNBA single-game record 19 assists in 40 minutes against the Dallas Wings on July 17. The assist total broke five-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot’s record of 18, set with the Chicago Sky in 2020.

At Iowa, Clark was best known for her seemingly limitless shooting range. However, she’s really come along as a distributor this season, with seven double-digit assist games in her last nine before the All-Star break, as well as a 10-assist outing for the WNBA All-Stars in their upset win over Team USA in the July 20 All-Star Game.

Chicago White Sox lose 21 consecutive games as they trend toward baseball infamy

Just a few seasons ago, the White Sox looked like they were building a sustainable playoff contender. After making the wild-card round in the shortened 2020 season, the ’21 White Sox went 93-69 and reached the ALDS. Things have trended downward since, and this year’s White Sox team is making a strong push for the title of worst team in MLB history.

Chicago did not win a game from July 12 to August 6, losing an AL record-tying 21 consecutive games by an average of 4.35 runs. The run featured series sweeps at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals (twice). The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol on Aug. 8, days after the streak ended.

With their current .239 win percentage, the White Sox are on pace to finish with a 39-123 record, three full losses worse than the 1962 New York Mets, an expansion team that went 40-120-1 to set the MLB record for the most losses in a single season.

Angel Reese becomes WNBA’s top double-double machine as a rookie

Angel Reese was selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky after a standout college career at LSU. There were questions about how Reese, who has a pretty conventional post game on offense, would acclimate to the next level. She has answered those questions, becoming an All-Star in her first season as a pro.

Reese posted her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds against the Seattle Storm on May 28. Three games later, she scored 13 points and grabbed 10 boards against the New York Liberty, tipping off a WNBA-record streak of 15 consecutive double-doubles , a mark that shattered the record of 12 set by the great Candace Parker in 2009-10.

With 17 double-doubles on the year so far (not counting her 12-point, 11-rebound outing in the All-Star Game ), Reese is just five shy of Tina Charles’ rookie record of 22 in a season.

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LeBron James’ dream of teaming up with son Bronny comes true at 2024 NBA Draft

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has said he intends to play with his elder son, Bronny, in the NBA for years. That goal became a reality on June 27, during the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.

The Lakers selected Bronny with the No. 55 overall pick , but the selection was met with controversy as some observers claimed nepotism. The former USC guard played just one college season, averaging 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 25 games, after suffering cardiac arrest during a workout last summer. The fact he was able to play at all was a great sign, and one could argue he would’ve been better suited playing a second college season. Instead, he’ll develop within the Lakers organization and likely will spend most of the year with the G-League’s South Bay Lakers .

We’ll almost certainly see LeBron and Bronny play together at some point, though, and that will mark NBA history in addition to being a special moment for the James Gang.

Related: 5 Greatest Teams in WNBA History