NBA 2018
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50 free Nba 2018 trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The NBA packed an unusual amount of drama into 2018. Golden State and Cleveland met in the Finals for the fourth year in a row, both conference finals went the distance, and a summer of free agency and trades redrew the map of the league before the next season had even tipped off. This quiz covers the whole calendar year: the playoffs and the Finals, the individual awards, All-Star Weekend, the draft and its famous swaps, the stars who changed clubs, the coaches who lost their jobs, and the retirements, records and off-court stories that filled the gaps in between. It is written for fans who followed that season closely and want to see how much has stuck, and for quiz hosts who need accurate questions with answers. Every question comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still leaves you with a story from one of the league's busiest years.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Cavaliers guard dribbled out the clock with the score tied late in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals?
J.R. Smith
J.R. Smith rebounded a teammate's missed free throw and headed for half court instead of shooting. Cleveland lost in overtime and went on to be swept.
Q 02What did LeBron James punch after Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals, bruising a hand he kept secret all series?
A whiteboard
A whiteboard in the Cleveland locker room took the blow after the overtime loss. He revealed the bone bruise only once the sweep was complete, having scored 51 points in that opening game.
Q 03Which retired Lakers star won an Academy Award in March 2018 for an animated short based on his farewell letter?
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant wrote and narrated Dear Basketball, hand-drawn by veteran Disney animator Glen Keane. It was the first Oscar won by any professional athlete.
Q 04Which pop singer's rendition of the national anthem before the 2018 NBA All-Star Game was widely mocked online?
Fergie
Fergie admitted the next day that her attempt at something special had missed the intended tone. The game itself, in Los Angeles, went to LeBron James's side by 148–145.
Q 05Which All-Star guard starred in the 2018 film Uncle Drew as an elderly streetball legend from his soft-drink ads?
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving first played the character in a Pepsi Max campaign in 2012. The film's cast of aged-up hoopers included Shaquille O'Neal, Reggie Miller and Lisa Leslie.
Q 06LeBron James's production company confirmed in September 2018 that he would star in a sequel to which 1996 film?
Space Jam
Space Jam got its follow-up in 2021 as A New Legacy, with Ryan Coogler producing. Earlier sequel plans had stalled when the star of the original refused to return.
Q 07In which Ohio city did LeBron James open the I Promise School in July 2018, weeks after joining the Lakers?
Akron
Akron is his hometown, and the public school opened with 240 third and fourth graders at risk of falling behind. Every pupil was given a bicycle and a helmet.
Q 08Which injury-plagued guard scored a career-high 50 points on Halloween 2018 and sealed the win with a last-second block?
Derrick Rose
Derrick Rose did it in his first start of the season, seven years after his MVP award and several knee operations later. He shot 19-of-31 against Utah.
Q 09Which coach was fired in May 2018 after a playoff sweep by Cleveland, then named NBA Coach of the Year weeks later?
Dwane Casey
Dwane Casey had just guided his team to a franchise-record 59 wins and the East's top seed. Detroit hired him on a five-year deal a month after the firing.
Q 10Which NBA team ended a 13-season playoff drought in April 2018 by beating Denver in overtime on the final night?
Minnesota
Minnesota had not reached the postseason since 2004, then the longest wait in the league. The finale was the first winner-take-all game for a last playoff seed in 21 years.
Q 11Which Warriors star was named 2018 NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year after scoring 43 points in Game 3?
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant averaged 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists across the sweep, and closed it out with a triple-double in Game 4.
Q 12Which Warriors guard set an NBA Finals single-game record with nine three-pointers in Game 2 of the 2018 series?
Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry added seven more threes and 37 points in the clinching Game 4, yet the series MVP award still went to a teammate.
Q 13Which player was named 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player after winning his first scoring title with 30.4 points a game?
James Harden
Q 21Which new format did the 2018 NBA All-Star Game introduce in place of the traditional East against West matchup?
Captains drafted the teams
Captains drafted the teams from a pool of voted-in starters and coach-picked reserves, though the picks were made in private and not televised.
Q 22Which guard won the 2018 NBA Three-Point Contest, scoring a then-record 28 points in the final to beat Klay Thompson?
Devin Booker
Devin Booker had first entered the event as a rookie two years earlier, when he was the youngest contestant it had ever had.
Q 23Which forward, traded to Cleveland in February 2018, got NBA permission to wear his father's retired No. 22 jersey?
James Harden had made history that January as the first player to score 60 points as part of a triple-double, against Orlando.
Q 14Which player, who sat out the entire previous season with a broken foot, was voted 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year?
Ben Simmons
Ben Simmons had been the first overall pick in 2016, taken by Philadelphia. As a boy in Australia he played rugby league and Australian rules football before settling on basketball.
Q 15Which center was named 2018 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, the first Utah winner since Mark Eaton in 1989?
Rudy Gobert
Rudy Gobert became the first French-born winner of the award, and he took it again the following season.
Q 16Which guard led the NBA in steals in 2017–18 and won the Most Improved Player award in his first season with Indiana?
Victor Oladipo
Victor Oladipo had starred in college for Indiana University, and his return to the state brought a first All-Star selection and an All-Defensive First Team place.
Q 17Which Clippers reserve scored 50 points against Golden State in January 2018 and won NBA Sixth Man of the Year?
Lou Williams
Lou Williams poured in 27 of those points in the third quarter alone. The award was the second of his three.
Q 18Who recorded his 100th career NBA triple-double in March 2018, joining Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd?
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook finished that season averaging a triple-double for the second year running, and he led the league in assists as well.
Q 19Which Houston guard hurt a hamstring late in Game 5 of the 2018 Western Conference finals and missed the last two games?
Chris Paul
Chris Paul could only watch as Houston lost twice with a 3–2 lead, missing 27 three-pointers in a row during Game 7.
Q 20Which 59-win top seed in the East was swept by LeBron James's Cavaliers in the second round of the 2018 NBA playoffs?
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors became the first top seed ever swept in a conference semifinal, a rout that earned LeBron James the nickname 'LeBronto'.
Larry Nance Jr.
Larry Nance Jr. also entered that month's Slam Dunk Contest in a 1984 Phoenix uniform, copying the dunk his father used to win the first one. He finished second.
Q 24Which Arizona center did the Phoenix Suns take first in the 2018 NBA draft, the franchise's first No. 1 overall pick?
Deandre Ayton
Deandre Ayton, born in the Bahamas, went one pick ahead of Marvin Bagley III and two ahead of Luka Dončić.
Q 25Which guard did Dallas send to Atlanta, with a future first-round pick, to land Luka Dončić on 2018 NBA draft night?
Trae Young
Trae Young had been picked fifth minutes earlier, two spots behind Dončić. A year later both were unanimous choices for the All-Rookie First Team.
Q 26Which prospect, once tipped to go first overall, slid to Denver at 14th in the 2018 NBA draft over back-injury fears?
Michael Porter Jr.
Michael Porter Jr. had needed surgery on his lower back during his one college season at Missouri. In 2023 he won an NBA title with the team that gambled on him.
Q 27Luka Dončić entered the 2018 NBA draft weeks after winning the EuroLeague title and MVP award with which Spanish club?
Real Madrid
Real Madrid had given him his senior debut at 16, the youngest in the club's history. He was still busy at the EuroLeague Final Four when the NBA held its pre-draft combine.
Q 28Which four-time All-Star guard was traded to San Antonio in July 2018 as the main piece in the deal for Kawhi Leonard?
DeMar DeRozan
DeMar DeRozan left the only NBA team he had known after nine seasons, moving with Jakob Poeltl and a first-round pick while Danny Green went the other way.
Q 29Which All-Star center, recovering from a torn Achilles, joined the champion Warriors on a one-year deal in July 2018?
DeMarcus Cousins
DeMarcus Cousins accepted the mid-level exception, worth $5.3 million, five months after rupturing the tendon in the final seconds of a New Orleans win.
Q 30Which All-Star forward, who had named the Lakers as his preferred team, re-signed with Oklahoma City in July 2018?
Paul George
Paul George, raised in Southern California, never even arranged a meeting with the Lakers and took a four-year contract with the Thunder.