Does winning matter in the NBA? At face value, that might seem like a ridiculous question. Players compete in games, scoreboards keep track of who’s ahead, standings reflect teams’ relative success and champions end up with rings on their fingers. So of course winning matters, right?
Right. But if appearances and public discussion mean anything, winning isn’t the most important part of the NBA. What matters is who’s going where, who can’t get along with whom and how much a championship on the resume would add to someone’s legacy. If the league could be boiled down to one emotion, it would look like a Taylor Swift fan not getting a concert ticket.
