Glory is within reach for every NBA franchise

Good morning. We are consistently being reminded in the modern NBA that there is always hope for a golden era. Let's basketball.

Four years ago, the Indiana Pacers were dealing with a straight-up revolt amid the disastrous season under Nate Bjorkgren. The following season, amid a pretty bad campaign in Rick Carlisle's inglorious return to Indiana, the team traded for Tyrese Haliburton. They had one more losing season. And now they are here. They were arguably five minutes from giving themselves a very nice path to an NBA championship. Two big trades over a few seasons, some smart draft picks and canny trades and an immense standings swing in a short time period, capped off with a magical playoff run.

We don't need to rehash Oklahoma City's path to the precipice of a title. They went 46-108 over two seasons this decade. They look like a potential dynasty in the making. The biggest reason for the leap is an incredible leap for a player who was on those terrible teams. The next biggest reason was a couple of excellent draft picks, both in the lottery. The next biggest reasons are canny moves around that core. What the Thunder have done since first trading for Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo is attainable to all teams.

Minnesota went 42-94 in 2019-20 and 2020-21 combined. The prize was Anthony Edwards. They have been to two straight conference finals. This was one of the most moribund franchises since the 1989 expansion burst. Look at them now.

New York went 30-110 in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons combined. That was just 6-7 years ago. They are in the championship pool now.

Over the 3-year span ending in 2021, the Cavaliers went 60-159. Yes, 60 wins over three seasons. They won 64 games this season.

Over the 3-year span ending in 2023, the Rockets went 83-177. They were a 52-win team this season.

Detroit averaged a 20-62 record over the five seasons directly preceding 2024-25 and just made a strong playoff appearance.

All of these teams have promising paths forward and appear to be poised for sustainable success. With the exception of the Knicks and sometimes the Rockets, none of these franchises are seen as destination clubs. None of them except New York and maybe Houston are pulling high-profile free agents when they are not competing for a championship. None of them really have special resources unavailable to any other team.

A few had some draft lottery luck. A few made some imbalanced trades. A few struck gold in the draft beyond the no-brainer picks. A few took giant swings that paid off. A few stayed relatively quiet and built brick by brick. Different paths to roughly similar landing spots: fielding competitive NBA teams with significant upside in the immediate wake of being terrible.

This is attainable to every broken team in the NBA! The Charlotte Hornets, who have not won a playoff series since their reanimation in 2004 and who went 40-124 over the past two season – even they could be a couple years away from a quick rise and sustained success. It is possible! There is rampant evidence of this fact. The Sacramento Kings, who briefly tasted success a few years ago after two decades of disaster, look hopeless again. But there is no real hopelessness in the NBA. Proof is in the NBA Finals. Proof is all over the playoffs. Be smart, get lucky and any franchise can do this.

Even the Washington Wizards, possibly the most moribund franchise we have outside of Charlotte. A franchise for whom even their brief forays into competitiveness feel doomed or damaged from the start. Even the Wizards can be great, and not in the deep future, but soon. The draft lottery hasn't been helpful, and draft misses preceding the current regime will continue to haunt the club for a little while longer. But the path is well-trod by these other quick rebuilds. In fact, the Wizards are run by veterans of OKC's rebuild.

This is what I'm taking most from how the playoffs have played out, and Indiana's impressive showing in the Finals, and OKC's dominance all season. There's nothing exclusive about the path to the top. This level of success is attainable. Never guaranteed, always possible. Have hope for your team!

What Paid Subscribers Received This Week

Here are the newsletter that went out to our dear paid subscribers over the past week.

• An appreciation of Jalen Williams in the wake of Game 5 and an argument that he's the second or third best second banana in the NBA
• A breakdown of the Desmond Bane trade, particularly from the Orlando side (with a secondary mini-essay on reported Kevin Durant trade desires)
• An appreciation of the five minutes that flipped the series in Game 4
• An ode to total pains in the ass, a heavy feature of these NBA Finals

If you'd like to get newsletters like these in your inbox beyond the single weekly free edition, become a paid subscriber. It's $7 a month or $70 a year. Few have ever told me they regretted it!

Links

MRI for Tyrese Haliburton's calf. Not a great sign!

Excellent Ramona Shelburne profile of Jenny Boucek, who will be the NBA's first female head coach within a couple of years.

Logan Murdock on the irrepressible cool of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Pacers traded their No. 23 pick to the Pelicans to re-acquire their own 2026 pick, which had been laundered to New Orleans via the Pascal Siakam and Brandon Ingram trades. Can you imagine taking a call on a draft pick transaction while in the midst of a competitive NBA Finals? Not now, Dumars! (Speaking of Ingram: the other day when I unfavorably compared the current Raptors roster to the one that absorbed Kawhi Leonard, I forgot about Ingram. Oops. The point stands.)

Updated ESPN mock draft. Today I learned that Jason Richardson's son is a first-round prospect.

Kelly Dwyer on the Thunder growing up.

Katie Baker on the hot mess of the Knicks coaching search.

Katie Heindl on what the Rockets need beyond the veneer of toughness.

Tom Haberstroh on the real meaning of Scott "The Extender" Foster: he makes games hella long by calling hella fouls.

David Thorpe on how Indiana can force a Game 7.

Things Jared Dubin noticed in Game 5.

Tim Bontemps on the tentacles and ramifications of the Bane deal.

Two items worth monitoring. First, Dejounte Murray ripped into the Pelicans organization as lacking the professional nature he'd become accustomed to in San Antonio and Atlanta. Second, Desmond Bane joked about the lack of windows in the Grizzlies' training facility.

Mike Sykes with an ode to the perfect Dad shoe.

Alright, that's all for Wednesday. Be excellent to each other.