The Bet was born in the summer of 2019, in the wake of the NBA's most ballyhooed free agency. Drafters sifted through the debris of that free agency, delicately weighing each team's talent level along with their longterm prospects. Savvy drafters considered contracts, chemistry and culture. Burning questions percolated the first two rounds of the draft: Had the LA Clippers really become the league's model franchise? Would the Process finally come to completion? Could James Harden and Russell Westbrook coexist? Would Kevin Durant return to full strength from a torn Achilles? How about Klay Thompson, coming off an ACL? Would Giannis choose to live his life in the Upper Midwest, or view the region merely as a frigid formative sojourn like this blog's author? Two and a half years later, most of these questions have been answered. Some of those answers have been damning. Others have been inspiring. But like any good suspense, The Bet asks more questions than it answers. How
Five years is a long time. In the hyper-speed, attention-deficit 2020s, it's an eternity . Each NBA team will play four hundred or more games over the course of The Bet. Dynasties will rise and fall. Contenders will emerge and recede. Superstars will retire. Unknown teenagers will replace them. ACLs will rupture. Banners will hang. These facts are the broad strokes of the five-year canvas. It's the details that will clarify the picture. The slow reveal of these details should mount suspense as The Bet progresses. The twists and turns should lead to a satisfying climax. But one manager is threatening to snuff out the drama before the story reaches its halfway point. Like a breakaway bicyclist hunting a stage win, he's sprinted beyond reach of the trailing peloton. If the gap grows too large, the chasers will lose hope before the Bet culminates. Here's where the competitors stand early in Year Two: 6. Team Zaxel: Rockets, Pelicans, Raptors, Pistons, Knicks Is it a b