Baxter Holmes is a senior writer for ESPN and one of the industry’s most thoughtful and tenacious voices covering the NBA. Known for his in-depth features, investigative projects, and longform storytelling, Holmes has spent a decade at ESPN reporting on the human, cultural, and institutional forces that shape the league.

Since joining ESPN in 2014, Holmes has reported extensively on the NBA, beginning as the Los Angeles Lakers beat reporter. He chronicled Kobe Bryant’s final two seasons and the Lakers’ first year post-retirement, while also contributing signature magazine features and off-court insights. In recent years, he’s been widely recognized for his groundbreaking investigations, including a 2021 exposé on misconduct inside the Phoenix Suns organization that led to an NBA investigation, a $10 million fine, and the eventual sale of the team by majority owner Robert Sarver. The story, based on interviews with more than 70 current and former Suns employees, has helped shape conversations around workplace accountability across professional sports.

Holmes’ work has earned numerous honors, including being named a 2022 Livingston Award finalist for national reporting and receiving top 10 recognition in the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) contest for his investigative work. He is also the first sports media journalist to win a James Beard Foundation Award, which he received for his lighthearted yet insightful 2018 ESPN The Magazine feature on the NBA’s fascination with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That story also won a New York Press Club Award for Food Writing and was featured in the 2018 edition of The Best American Food Writing. His 2019 feature story about San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s love of food, fine wine and team dinners earned him a short-list spot for the Louis Roederer International Wine Writing Award. In 2020, he received a Deadline Club Award for his two-part series on the dangers of youth basketball.

Before ESPN, Holmes worked at the Boston Globe as the Celtics beat reporter and began his career as a sportswriter at the Los Angeles Times. Holmes is originally from Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He enjoys reading, hiking, running, and traveling.