NBA Powerless Rankings: 5 lessons we didn’t learn in the regular season

Sometimes bad things happen to good teams and good players. Welcome to the final edition of our NBA Powerless rankings. I haven’t learned a thing edition.

“I feel utterly powerless, and that feeling is my prison. I entered of my own free will, I locked the door, and I threw away the key.” – Haruki Murakami

I’m just going to put it out there. The world is a big, scary place, and our influence on it is minimal. We’re a snowman trying to stem an avalanche. We’re a puddle in the sun. In so many ways, we are powerless to stop the various inevitables.

But at least we’re not alone. Each of us are in the same existential ditch. Sure, some of us have a bit more agency, but even the strongest of us all can’t dictate their own existence. It’s comforting in its own way. It’s the same lazy river ride to the same waterfall.

This truth applies to NBA players as well. They just want to play basketball good and win basketball games. Unfortunately, that can’t always be the case. Half the teams lose every night. Someone is going to do something bad or have something bad happen to them.

That’s why we’re here. Every week we’re going to put together a small five-slide sample to celebrate of our communal, hopeless struggle against fate. This week, we’re talking about how, broadly, everything remains the same.

Join us. Or don’t. Turns out you have a choice after all.