{"id":2076730,"date":"2026-08-04T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T07:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2076730"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T07:00:29","slug":"basketball-is-about-magical-things-that-happen-on-the-court-not-just-trades-and-draft-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2076730","title":{"rendered":"Basketball is about magical things that happen on the court, not just trades and draft picks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>Now that LeBron has signed with the Sixers, we can finally go back to normal hoops talk.<\/p>\n<p>But before we do, something has been on my mind for a while.<\/p>\n<p>From conversations I\u2019ve heard or been a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7262074\/2026\/05\/08\/nba-viewership-streaming-accessibility-broadcast-partners\/\">part of in bars<\/a> or with my friends to things I\u2019m seeing on various social media platforms, today\u2019s NBA fans think about transactions way more than I remember in the past as everyone has a \u201cgreat\u201d idea for how to fix their team.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so tired of the \u2018We need X-Y-Z\u2019 takes whenever someone has a bad game,\u201d one friend texted. \u201cYou likely do not know better than folks employed to make those decisions, no matter how many tattoos you have declaring your undying allegiance to a franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"wzGtQBjQ47rSplM\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_Root__QeM_i\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_VideoWidth__XjNKI VideoHost_Portrait__XBaJC\">\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Root__AGckL\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Title__npf3B\">Why LeBron James couldn&#8217;t retire<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Authors__jxyYV\">Shakeia Taylor and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_VideoWrapper__Xgp47\">{&#8220;@context&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/schema.org&#8221;,&#8221;@type&#8221;:&#8221;VideoObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/wzGtQBjQ47rSplM\/&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/wzGtQBjQ47rSplM\/&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Why LeBron James couldn&#8217;t retire&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;Sometimes it&#8217;s hard to step away from the game you love. LeBron contemplated retirement, before ultimately deciding to join the Philadelphia 76ers.  &#8220;,&#8221;uploadDate&#8221;:&#8221;2026-07-25T01:11:26.054Z&#8221;,&#8221;duration&#8221;:&#8221;PT59S&#8221;,&#8221;thumbnailUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/wzGtQBjQ47rSplM\/aCW3UliHl7it.0000000.jpg&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/private\/video-stream-sources\/aCW3UliHl7it.mp4&#8243;,&#8221;transcript&#8221;:&#8221;Why is it so hard for great players to leave the game? Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and now LeBron James. When James, age 41, explained his decision on his X account, he said, I thought I was done when the season ended, before adding, I still truly love this game and I have more to give. Ending a career with a championship is a legacy defining moment. For most of James&#8217;s career, he&#8217;s been compared to Michael Jordan. With this latest move to join the Sixers, James adds a new layer to the discussion. Is this move weirder than MJ to the Wizards? He isn&#8217;t ready to walk away. Jordan didn&#8217;t win another ring while with the Wizards. And while we don&#8217;t know when James will decide to leave the NBA, we&#8217;ve got at least 2 years to see him try to win 1 more and end his career on top. Will his final chapter be more like Brady? Or Jordan&#8221;,&#8221;ineligibleRegion&#8221;:[&#8220;BI&#8221;,&#8221;BY&#8221;,&#8221;CD&#8221;,&#8221;CF&#8221;,&#8221;CU&#8221;,&#8221;IQ&#8221;,&#8221;IR&#8221;,&#8221;KP&#8221;,&#8221;LB&#8221;,&#8221;LY&#8221;,&#8221;ML&#8221;,&#8221;NI&#8221;,&#8221;RU&#8221;,&#8221;SD&#8221;,&#8221;SO&#8221;,&#8221;SS&#8221;,&#8221;SY&#8221;,&#8221;UA&#8221;,&#8221;VE&#8221;,&#8221;YE&#8221;,&#8221;ZW&#8221;],&#8221;publisher&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;NewsMediaOrganization&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/&#8221;,&#8221;foundingDate&#8221;:&#8221;2016-01-25&#8243;,&#8221;logo&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;ImageObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;creditText&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;height&#8221;:&#8221;60&#8243;,&#8221;width&#8221;:&#8221;435&#8243;},&#8221;publishingPrinciples&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/&#8221;,&#8221;sameAs&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic&#8221;},&#8221;author&#8221;:[{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;Person&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Shakeia Taylor and Jeshua Kidd&#8221;}]}<\/p>\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_root__AKv5b\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16;max-height:min(100%)\">\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_inner__86C_2\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16\">\n<div class=\"VideoStreamPlayer_GridStack__2H0p2\"><video preload=\"metadata\"><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some version of the NBA\u2019s Hot Stove League has been around for ages. We see proposed trades all the time. But when games started, it cooled down.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it seems as if the stove is always hot in the NBA. Mainly, fantasy trade proposals are harmless, but if it\u2019s the basis for your fandom, then, that causes problems, because, really \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Are we even having fun anymore?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen fan trade proposals in graphics on Instagram. I\u2019ve seen people discussing prediction market numbers on where a player might land. I\u2019ve seen proposals on X (formerly Twitter) where one team trades a star for very little.<\/p>\n<p>As an NBA reporter, I have to understand what the second apron represents, the tax ramifications of any trade, or what an individual player\u2019s contract status might be. But fan investment isn\u2019t found in those things. It\u2019s found in the stories, in the players, the lore, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the feeling of hope you have in October when everybody is 0-0 and just about anything feels possible. Dollars matter, but part of what makes you a fan is the emotions you feel participating in the rituals and community of sports.<\/p>\n<p>Number-for-number swaps and bean counting isn\u2019t <i>truly<\/i> what makes someone a fan, is it? That makes someone who loves accounting. There is so much more to assessing a player\u2019s contributions, which sometimes don\u2019t appear on the stat sheet. It must be difficult being a fan with such extremes.<\/p>\n<p>I asked my sports-loving friends: a college professor, a few writers, and some homies who just love the game: Where did this start? What do you remember?<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThinking like a GM has the average person thinking black-and-white when it comes to how good a player is,\u201d one friend said. \u201cYou\u2019re either a superstar or a bust. Nothing in-between.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But they all somehow landed on the same inflection point: it goes as far back as the Trade Machine.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\u2019s Trade Machine is a tool created by then-data analyst Sachin Gupta in 2006 \u2014 coincidentally, the same year Twitter was founded. Thanks to Gupta, who went on to serve as a basketball executive for the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, and Minnesota Timberwolves and is now chief of analytics with Chelsea Football Club, fans learn what moves can and cannot be made within the framework of salary-cap regulations and CBA restrictions. It\u2019s a fun and informative way to engage with your favorite team but it seems to have opened Pandora\u2019s Box for NBA fans.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>Is it \u2014 and the many other trade machines you can now find on the internet \u2014 one of the reasons fandom of the NBA has become so focused on transactions?<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>This summer\u2019s player-movement cycle, especially the Jaylen Brown trade, led to plenty of discussion about analytics and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7408974\/2026\/07\/01\/jaylen-brown-value-celtics-trade\/\"><span>a player\u2019s value to a team<\/span><\/a>. And not just from analysts and media. Fans are deep into roster-building exercises themselves.<\/p>\n<p>We have access to so much information about how basketball is played and what\u2019s efficient (or not). There is data for just about everything you can think of.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s not a bad thing. Having a deeper understanding of something you\u2019re passionate about is perfectly OK. And I can\u2019t discount the desire to win being the motivation in thinking we can make better decisions than someone whose job it is to make them.<\/p>\n<p>But all of this \u201cpassion\u201d can be misguided as it takes something that\u2019s supposed to be like a fun group discussion, and turns it into a competition of \u201cWho can be the expert?\u201d And that level of discourse quickly goes from \u201cThis is what I would do differently\u201d to \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone wants to have the one idea the rest of the world doesn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid3\" data-position=\"mid3\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dream team building doesn\u2019t just happen in the NBAsphere though. Fantasy baseball has been around <a href=\"https:\/\/ourgame.mlblogs.com\/first-baseball-table-game-c7cbd4a8da62\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">since the 19th century<\/a> and evolved from a parlor table game. Fantasy football was started in Oakland, Calif. by Wilfred \u201cBill\u201d Winkenbach, who formed the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League in 1963.<\/p>\n<p>Fantasy roster building has become a lucrative addition for sports across leagues.<\/p>\n<p>Fans in the offseason, notably baseball, would gather around a \u201chot stove\u201d and toyed with the idea of trading away players they don\u2019t like, getting All-Stars for role players, and offloading contracts they feel are prohibiting their team from greatness. But social media has added a whole \u2018nother layer. Misguided trade proposals went from a funny thing to post to, in some cases, the primary way people seem to interact with the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>Lost in the GM-ification of fans, though, is a consideration for the relationships and the team building necessary for chemistry \u2014 something not found in a trade machine or mathematical data. There\u2019s human feel and intangibles at play when it comes to building a roster. A team isn\u2019t just made of varying skills and contracts, but different personalities.<\/p>\n<p>Fantasy roster building takes little or none of this into consideration. It can be unnecessarily reductive, overly simplistic, and quite frankly, a bit ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>And sometimes, the social media banter of it all, it fuels trade rumors.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7488966\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption-image-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7488966 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/08\/03113819\/260803-Myles-Turner-scaled-e1785771542791.jpg\" alt=\"Bucks center Myles Turner\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1280\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-credits\">\n<div class=\"inline-credits-container\">\n      <span class=\"credits-text\">Myles Turner signed with the Bucks as a free agent in 2025. (Jeff Hanisch \/ Imagn Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When Bucks center Myles Turner left Indiana in 2025, he penned an essay for The Players\u2019 Tribune about the highs and lows of his career to that point. For much of his career with the Pacers, Turner was often mentioned in trade chatter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen suddenly my name was popping up in trade rumors a lot \u2014 and that\u2019s not even anything bad, you know? Very few guys will ever be good enough at hooping to become an NBA trade asset. That\u2019s a high as hell level to reach,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theplayerstribune.com\/myles-turner-nba-basketball-indiana-pacers-playoffs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Turner wrote<\/a>. \u201cBut it definitely took a toll on my mental health. I\u2019d see stuff on social media like, \u2018Myles Turner is a finished product\u2019\u2026\u2026\u2026. man.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid4\" data-position=\"mid4\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cEven if I knew it was only basketball talk, it was still hard to keep it basketball-only in my feelings. And maybe that\u2019s dumb when you\u2019re making millions of dollars to play the game you love.<\/p>\n<p>But what can I say? I was young, and I\u2019m human. And I\u2019m not ashamed to say I got pretty depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re entitled to whatever your thoughts are on Turner\u2019s on-court play, but as he wrote, these conversations ultimately affect real people in real ways. Players are not immune to criticism, social media or otherwise. They\u2019re online \u2014 so are their families \u2014 and see what\u2019s being said.<\/p>\n<p>Fantasy trade discussions can oversimplify what\u2019s actually a more complicated process for those making the decisions. There is much to consider when trading a player besides the stats. What is the overall impact on the person <i>and <\/i>the team?<\/p>\n<p>A well-functioning team needs role players and specialists. Talent often has to be developed.<\/p>\n<p>You never know how someone\u2019s game might evolve in a couple seasons, and we\u2019re not always aware of what the expectations are in any given situation. That\u2019s something a real GM thinks about because they aren\u2019t just planning for today, but for the future. Real GMs: Macro; internet GMs: micro, and few of them look at the bigger picture.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve seen trades receive sideways looks and question marks only for them to later pan out. Ever hear of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7303952\/2026\/05\/24\/knicks-mikal-bridges-trade-evaluate-nba-playoffs\/\">Mikal Bridges<\/a>? The Knicks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5593553\/2024\/06\/26\/knicks-all-in-mikal-bridges-trade-knicks\/\">stuck to their plan<\/a> and are champions. That\u2019s not to say everything will work out that way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody\u2019s on the couch claiming to know what\u2019s best for their teams as if the pool of truly elite players who have the power to really make or break a team isn\u2019t tiny,\u201d one friend said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what all goes into decisions made about what teams pursue free agents or what those conversations consist of.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut because we\u2019re watching ESPN daily and watching games we think we know better?\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid5\" data-position=\"mid5\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Fans don\u2019t face the pressure of getting a deal right and won\u2019t be fired. To some extent, maybe the practice allows you to empathize with GMs and that could be a good thing, but doesn\u2019t it feel strange that transactions are the fuel for your fandom?<\/p>\n<p>Fantasizing about a superstar or even just someone who can help win joining our favorite team is normal, but it probably isn\u2019t the best way to connect with other NBA fans if this is the only thing you\u2019re interested in. Especially not long term.<\/p>\n<p>The real fun is in the players and from watching the games. Maybe that\u2019s better than focusing on what you can\u2019t fix?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now that LeBron has signed with the Sixers, we can finally go back to normal hoops talk. But before we do, something has been on my mind for a while. From conversations I\u2019ve heard or been a part of in bars or with my friends to things I\u2019m seeing on various social media platforms, today\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2076730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2076730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2076730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2076730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2076730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}