NYT LeBron sports front

Eh, I'm not sure it's "almost never." It's rare-ish. Just had an Adam Silver illustration, what, a month ago? Prior to that Knowshawn Moreno during the playoffs. The Dirty Game was essentially an illustration. Roger Goodell on the Iron Throne. Jordan's 50th birthday. That's in the last two years.

 

Yeah, they definitely let the photogs' work shine off a live event, but they seem to use illustrations fairly often on features and investigative pieces.

 

You're right. It used to be much less common.

 

They seem to use photo illustrations with some regularity.

But just an artist's illustration seems to be a thing of the past.