The modern NBA media world is dominated by instant reaction. Because of the nonstop news cycle and social media, fans and media personalities are trained to respond immediately to every shot, game and event. In some ways, this is a good thing. We get our news as soon as it occurs and don’t have to wait for hours to start interpreting the story and thinking about what it means. But this trend has massive negative effects as well. It leads commentators to put too much weight on what is happening in the moment. Context and history are ignored and recency bias runs rampant. The hot take is rewarded over the more reasonable, measured opinion that takes more information into consideration, and it harms the way we watch sports.

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