Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, center, celebrates with guard Stephen Curry, left, after scoring against the Chicago Bulls during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski)
I hope you saw the Warriors play the Bulls on Monday night. What a joyful game! I’ve always considered myself blessed to have lived in Chicago during the Michael Jordan years and now to live in Oakland during the Steph Curry years. The Bulls game only reinforced why I love to watch these great players play. They bring me immense joy.
Klay Thompson broke out of the 3 point shooting slump he was in. (Shooting only 5 of 36 through the first seven games – 14%.) Seeing the delight of his fellow players, I was struck by how the Warriors embody mudita and how that is part of their winning edge.
Mudita is a word that dates from the time of the Buddha, from the ancient language of Pali (the precursor to Sanskrit). It means pure joy unadulterated by self-interest. There is no English word for this. Mudita is one of the four so-called “Brahmaviharas” – the “immeasurables,” the “heavenly abodes,” the states and practices of virtue. The other three are loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity (or peace). Mudita is the opposite of jealousy. A different close opposite of mudita in German, is “Schadenfreude” – taking pleasure in the suffering of others.
Klay was draining 3 pointers in the first quarter. He made 6 of his first 7 attempts and had 10 at the half. He scored 52 points in only 27 minutes of playing time. He ended up hitting fourteen 3 pointers in the game, breaking the NBA record. That previous NBA record of thirteen 3 pointers was held by his teammate Steph Curry. Guess who gave him the assist to tie his record of 13? That same Steph Curry. Steph and his teammates were doing everything they could to feed him the ball throughout the game. Initially, they were like kids in a schoolyard simply taking delight in seeing Klay break out of his shooting slump. Later they acted more like adoring fans enraptured simply to have ringside seats at the spectacle. But make no mistake, they reinforced and abetted his every shot. They made that record possible.
This is very unusual in the NBA. These athletes, the best basketball players in the world, know that their very livelihood depends on how they perform night in and night out. Their salaries and bonuses depend partly on the numbers they generate in game after game. How many points, rebounds, steals, and assists are they getting? Their family, friends, agents, managers, and lawyers all know. So this system reinforces teammates competing with each other. They have to compete with each other simply to get playing time, to get on the floor and demonstrate their skills. The sport only accommodates room for 5 out of 14 players at a time on the floor. Every shot scored, rebound and assist made by a teammate is one less that you as a player will be able to get. The players know these realities and would be irresponsible to not pay attention to them. The system does not reinforce cooperation, much less mudita.
So players have good reasons to not want their teammates to have spectacular performances, much less to express pure unadulterated joy when they do. Any given player could easily be the next athlete on the trade block, traded to another team or dropped altogether from the NBA. So the hurdle of every single NBA coach is to do whatever it takes to get their players to cohere into a working unit. This is no easy task. Often the players have egos to match their standing as some of the world’s greatest athletes. The task is made more difficult when those players earn many multiples of a coach’s own salary. Coaches need to get players to work together AND they can’t risk pissing off star players because those players could easily get management to fire them.
So NBA team building is a challenge. Most coaches do succeed at getting players to back each other up during difficulties. They’ll pick each other off the floor when they fall; they’ll challenge the refs with them when they get a bad call; they’ll back them up during confrontations with players from the opposing team. Perhaps most importantly, they’ll compete relentlessly in games until the last tenth of a second. But not many coaches succeed in having their players delight in each other’s unique personalities and gifts, to express and share joy with them on the court when they display their stupendous skills.
That sets the Warriors apart. They love what they do with and for each other. They literally jump for joy when one of them hits an amazing shot, or blocks an opponent’s shot, or makes a deft steal or a perfect pass. They smile and laugh, shimmy and shake, dance and dap with each other. They enjoy each other’s company, presumably off the court as well as on, and this camaraderie is plain to see during games. They express mudita.
The coaches know this bond, this solidarity, is a requirement for sustaining them through an 82 game regular season, and through “the second season” of the playoffs. Without it, they’ll be like every other team in the NBA – brilliant, talented players, all working hard to be their best, but for and against their own teammates. Somehow, Coach Kerr and the Warriors management have cracked the code. Maybe through picking the most well-adjusted players, maybe through culture, maybe through spiritual alchemy.
There is no minimizing the level of talent on the Warriors roster. Arguably, they have the best 14 player roster in the league. Inarguably, they have the best starting 5 players – all All-Stars – to begin and end each game. But watch the Warriors teammates, on and off the bench, the next time someone makes a great play. They will smile, laugh, jump and shout their joy, embodying delight in every glorious moment. There should really be no question as to exactly what is the key to their success. It’s plain as the mudita on their faces.
Frederick Marx, Co-maker HOOP DREAMS
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