No matter how bright the blinding lights of glory may shine in a professional athlete’s face, the common lesson remains that joy cannot last long. Opposing teams improve, injuries occur, players become disgruntled, and the wind blows them toward a new franchise. Losses build up, accreting into paranoia and, eventually, panic. When a franchise front office believes the dream for a championship cannot last any longer, they press the panic button. In doing so, the team chooses to purposely tank their performance in hopes of returning stronger, following roster changes.
Across professional sports, the return process after franchise despair sparks fear in any fandom: rebuilding. Rebuilds rely on factors such as front office decision-making, which secures the future via contracts and trust from supporters. Due to these factors, rebuilds could take either one offseason or decades. Each year of rebuilding means another season of losses for the fan base.
The Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA) serves as the gold standard of rebuilding in today’s era of sports. Following elimination from round one of the 2018-19 NBA playoffs, general manager (GM) Sam Presti knew the time had come to press the button. After trading Most Valuable Player (MVP) candidate Paul George (13) and franchise cornerstone Russell Westbrook (0), only Shai Gilgeous Alexander (2) and a boatload of draft picks remained in Oklahoma City.
In only four years, the Thunder transformed from a disheveled group of young prospects to NBA champions with the top defense in the league. Luck may take credit for the rebuild’s success, but Presti’s eye for talent carries its weight in shaping the roster. Alexander finished top 10 in the rookie of the year rankings, but scouts only saw his maximum potential as a decent rotation piece. With the trust of a miserable fanbase and a flexible coaching staff, Alexander found his own footing as a scorer, rising to become the league’s MVP. To professional sports teams, the Thunder’s quick response to franchise instability set an example worth following. Fans knew that the roster needed to change in order to see any success — rather than express discontent or grief, they chose to bear through the storm and keep placing their hope in what Presti could accomplish.
“As a Thunder fan, I’m glad Sam Presti chose to rebuild the team as quickly as he did. The team wasn’t doing anything impactful anymore, and we got a bunch of first-round picks for only Paul George. Not many other NBA teams could pull off a steal like Presti did,” magnet senior Jed Ngungi said.
Moving from the basketball court hardwood to the gridiron turf, America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys, can smell the smoke of failure looming. The team currently suffers from a playoff drought, failing to reach the postseason in the past two years. Franchise star Micah Parsons (11), along with a scathing critique of GM Jerry Jones, personally requested a trade from the Cowboys. To Cowboys fans, the franchise looks on a downward spiral toward gaining the moniker of a poverty franchise.
Despite all the signs and symbols pointing to disaster, the front office continues to hunker down and maintain hope that the Cowboys can work it out. Jones upholds the sentiment that the team looks to win now, rather than shake up the roster for the off chance of change. Online, fans express their grief with the franchise’s direction, placing the blame on every factor but the front office.
“The Cowboys are so sorry, it makes me mad watching them play. I’ve been alive for 17 years, and they’ve been rebuilding for double that amount of time. I hope they figure everything out before the fans start rioting,” senior Aaron Bowman said.
In the high-stakes jungle of professional athletics, it only takes a single loss to flip a franchise’s direction. When the panic button flares on, fanbases watch in awe as a team maximizes its efforts to avoid a total meltdown. Along the road to recovery, a pro sports team needs unity and sacrifice to find itself back at the top of the mountain.
