Dallas Mavericks

Mastering the art of delusion is hardly easy, but remains a necessity for modern survival. It's true for the girls, but also true for another entirely separate demographic — Dallas Mavericks fans.

The defending NBA champions could have run it back with the same team and probably felt pretty good about it. Instead, the Lakers decided they could get even better and did just that.

This regular season, Luka Dončić averaged 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists. In NBA history, only Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook have either matched or exceeded those numbers.

Well, it seems like that glory — which came both from the Mavericks’ wins and from the lack of controversial publicity — is a thing of the past now.