Every season, each NBA team embarks upon its campaign with a goal in mind. For most of the league’s 30 teams, the overarching goal is the same, and darn simple, too: win a championship. Those not in that category usually share the same goal, too: lose as many games as possible to earn a high draft pick. These are the broad strokes in which every NBA season is painted.
But there are a much wider variety of aims that fall under those two large umbrellas. Some teams hope for a title but know they aren’t quite there yet and instead want to see continued development from the core in place. Not every tanking team is in desperate need of a blue-chip prospect and instead would like to usher along the talent they currently have while shrugging shoulders at whatever losing must occur throughout that process. In other words, layers upon layers of different ways to consider the upcoming season a success.
