 Expectation versus reality. Every time superstars get together on the same team, it's usually known as a big three. They do it because it works. The showtime Lakers had magic, worthy, and Kareem. Bird, Parish, and Mikhail in Boston. Just a few examples of many. While every big three has different accomplishments throughout the evolving eras, they all have something in common. Sharing one ball. It's easier said than done. I say that because even the guys on the bench in the NBA were the best players in the gym their entire lives before making it here. So when you put the best of the best together and ask them to sacrifice for the betterment of the team, yeah, it can blow up in your face. The 2021 Brooklyn Nets are the next to face this trial by combat. If we plot the three stars onto a graph, we can gauge how this experiment is going thus far, and what to look forward to. The three main statistics impacted by sacrificing are usage rate, which is defined as the percentage of plays a player is used while he's on the floor, field goal attempts, and field goal percentage. This is what Hardin, Durant, and Kyrie's careers looked like before they assembled in Brooklyn. And after, just a couple weeks in. If we copy the after and compare it to the first year playoff campaign of the NBA's most recent big threes, we get a sense of how sacrifice affects all involved, most notably Hardin. The Warriors and Celtics won the title these years, while the heat lost in the finals. Did Miami lose because LeBron sacrificed too much? You could certainly make the argument. Which is what makes the experiment in Brooklyn so fascinating. There is no right or wrong answer right now. We won't get it until after the finals. But what we do know is for big threes to succeed, they have to be a democracy, not a dictatorship. And sometimes you don't see people's true colors until the house is on fire.