Moses and the Doctor

"Moses and the Doctor. One was relentlessly workmanlike. The other an unforgettable stylist who defined the ABA and helped rejuvenate the NBA. On these pages, Luke Epplin delivers a thoroughly researched and artfully rendered appreciation of both players and their place in the history of basketball.”—Bob Costas

“I devoured every page of this remarkable book. Hoops heads will feel as if they are flying to the hoop alongside Dr. J and grinding it out down low with Moses. In a TikTok age, where fans think they know everything about their heroes, Epplin delivers untold stories with the same flair and grit exhibited by his two main characters.”—Mirin Fader, author of Giannis and Dream

“Today’s NBA fan might not realize it, but they’re watching Dr. J and Moses Malone every time they turn on a game. Luke Epplin’s Moses and the Doctor brings both of them—as players, as people, as icons—vividly to life: He makes their stories as present, as urgent, as they have ever been.”—Will Leitch, author of Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride and How Lucky

“The best sports books don’t merely inform. They transport you back in time, to a place that, powered by glorious nostalgia, makes the reader feel young and passionate yet again. Such is the magic of Moses and the Doctor, a read that places a headband around the noggin and has one soaring toward the rim in a smoke-filled arena. This is a glorious book.”—Jeff Pearlman, author of Showtime

“The legacy of the ABA still reverberates, and nobody embodied the grace and grit of that renegade league better than Julius Erving and Moses Malone, the Hall of Fame duo who led the Philadelphia 76ers to their last championship. Thanks to Luke Epplin, two legends with enduring impact finally get the nuanced, richly detailed biography they deserve.”—Tyler Kepner, author of K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches

“Luke Epplin writing about Dr. J and Moses makes for a perfect match, and the result is a book that's as winning and entertaining as its subject. Moses and the Doctor is a smart social history and a rollicking good read.”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

"Through interviews and extensive research, Epplin creates a detailed snapshot of both players dominance in professional basketball and their quest to win a
championship. ... The detailed game breakdowns will appeal mostly to ardent NBA fans, but the personal stories and triumph and tribulations of one of basketball’s greatest duos should garner a larger audience."—Booklist

“With a painstaking eye for detail and a novelist’s knack for narrative.”—SB Nation

"Terrific."—Dan Shaughnessy, The Boston Globe