The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Abdurraqib, Hanif. There’s Always This Year. Penguin, 2024. Kindle AZW file.

The book is structured like a basketball game, beginning with a “Pregame” section. Abdurraqib addresses the reader as “you” and speaks about “our enemies,” (3) meaning those hostile to Black culture. He recalls his father’s baldness, linking it to James Brown’s remark about hair expressing identity. He describes the rise of the college basketball players known as the Fab Five, whose style and confidence drew both admiration and criticism. Abdurraqib recalls idolizing them as a child despite negative portrayals of them in the media. He also recounts a famous 1985 photo of Michael Jordan mid-dunk, reflecting on ascension, return, and ideas of heaven. He closes with Chris Webber’s claim that “No one ever loved the Fab Five,” (19) to which Abdurraqib responds, “I loved you” (19). He then recalls childhood experiences with haircuts, including a botched attempt that led to shaving his head, and his girlfriend Leslie’s unfulfilled wish to shave hers like Meshell Ndegeocello. Abdurraqib parallels his own life with LeBron James’s career, reflecting on hair loss, aging as a privilege in communities marked by early death, and the empty basketball courts of 2020 during the pandemic.

In “First Quarter: City as Its True Self,” he remembers white spectators misinterpreting shoes hanging on a wire in Columbus, which were actually a memorial. He recalls attending a 2002 game between Brookhaven and LeBron’s Akron St. Vincent–St. Mary, where Brookhaven narrowly lost after missed free throws. Abdurraqib recalls Columbus City League basketball under Brookhaven coach Bruce Howard, who led them to titles in the 1990s and was remembered for recognizing people in the community. Howard’s illness in 2003 prompted widespread concern and he died before the state tournament. Abdurraqib reflects on family lineages in the league, the stigmatizing of neighborhoods as “war zones” like his own “Uzi Alley,” and how young men adopted combat fatigues in response to these portrayals. At college, his cheap car marked him as out of place and suspicious, which he contrasts with LeBron James driving a $50,000 Hummer in high school. The SUV disrupted the narrative of James as an underdog, leaving “no pity to balance out the envy” (62). As teens, he and his friends traveled to Cleveland to watch LeBron play, while also celebrating local star Kenny Gregory, who drove a modest Honda Accord and was idolized in Columbus. Abdurraqib recalls Gregory winning major high school honors and returning home to neighborhood acclaim. Abdurraqib recalls Columbus player Estaban Weaver, whose early promise collapsed amid rumors of misconduct, leaving him overlooked by colleges. He argues Weaver’s talent still mattered and questions any definition of success that would exclude him.

In “Second Quarter: Flawed and Mortal Gods,” Abdurraqib considers how people turn athletes into gods, his own struggles with prayer, experience of eviction in 2007, and sleeping in a storage unit, all while watching LeBron James’s miraculous performances. He reflects on LeBron’s nickname “King,” comparing it to King James IV of Scotland, whose body was desecrated after death. He recalls jail, watching James on TV, and working briefly in debt collection. He describes the Cavaliers’ 2003 draft lottery and the disbelief in Cleveland until James’s pick was confirmed.

In “Third Quarter: The Mercy of Exits, The Magic of Fruitless Pleading,” Abdurraqib recalls watching planes taking off at the airport with his family, linking departures to LeBron’s move from Cleveland to Miami. He compares romantic heartbreak to the fans’ feelings of betrayal when LeBron left, notes their satisfaction when Miami lost in 2014, and recalls seeing a fan’s “WE MISS YOU / 2014 COME BACK” (179) shirt during a Cleveland game, and James’s sympathetic look in response. Abdurraqib compares Cavaliers fans’ pleas for LeBron to love songs begging for another chance. After his own arrests, he empathized with James’s desire to escape his background and location. He recalls the “We Are LeBron” song and the dismantling of James’s mural. He contrasts fans burning jerseys with his friend saving one in hope of James’s return, and reflects on fire as a form of political protest. He recounts working at a diner and traveling to watch the Cavaliers in their first post-James season. Despite their struggles, he supported Daniel “Boobie” Gibson, relating to his unfulfilled potential and tying it to his own failures and prison experience. Abdurraqib reflects on Cleveland as a place people leave, whether for opportunity or because of early death, and recalls being drawn more to returns than departures at the airport.

In “Fourth Quarter: City As Its False Self,” Abdurraqib describes James’s return, Cleveland’s championship win, and the fairytale-like joy it brought the city. He recalls watching the final in Connecticut, highlights Kyrie Irving’s winning shot, and compares being ahead in a game to fleeing the police. He also recounts Cleveland’s violent gang wars in the 1970s. Abdurraqib recalls returning to Ohio during the 2016 NBA Finals to watch Game 5 amid protests over the police killing of Henry Green, noting later killings of other Black men in Columbus. He reflects on rooting for underdogs, citing Buster Douglas’s upset of Mike Tyson, and insists a champion remains a champion forever. He recalls the 2014 police killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, contrasting it with his own childhood restrictions on toy guns, and criticizes attempts to defend Rice’s killers. He remembers being at a Cavaliers game that night where the tragedy was reduced to a brief announcement. He describes the emotional impact of a Nike commercial showing LeBron’s return to Cleveland, which left him in tears while living unhappily in Connecticut. He envies James’s homecoming but stresses that some people never wanted to leave Ohio in the first place, instead staying there and building “a heaven out of nothing” (313) To outsiders who see his neighborhood as dangerous, he says they should stay away: because those who love it remain, and “we never disappear” (315).