The pain Mavericks fans are feeling right now speaks to why I’ll never see anything wrong with a fan referring to their team as “we.”

If you get it, you just get it. Sports are a communal experience. It’s rooted in a shared journey and shared experiences and memories you make along the way with people who are pulling in the same direction as you. It’s community. It’s solidarity. It’s where the product ceases to become more than just “product” and ascends to a higher plane of something more nourishing and more soulful.

I’d also like to point out that the trade itself highlights a growing trend of the NBA valuing the fans less and less. These players and the bonds they form with their communities being severed in the manner they are isn’t just bad for the soul of the league, it’s bad for entire groups of people who treat this game as more than just a game.