NBA Lottery: Finding Fandom in a Rebuild

Losing.

Fans can talk themselves into the draft picks, the young player, and the excitement for the future, but you never get used to it.

The lopsided scores. The painfully non-competitive fourth quarters. The games where the young players – that we love to love – make countless mistakes, which cost the team a chance at the first win in months.

Losing is not fun for the players and the fans, but it’s a necessary evil. Losses lead to draft picks, which lead to great players that may vault a team back into contention. It’s only through losing that small-market teams find their way back to national prominence.

So the 2020-21 NBA season was a different one for Thunder fans, players, and executives.

A…