I spent an inordinate amount of time on Reddit during the NBA finals, clicking open comment threads to get a sense of how the nation’s basketball fans were feeling. Each forum and its community served a unique purpose. I turned to r/billsimmons for group media criticism about the Ringer Podcast Network’s various postgame recap shows; r/NBATalk for debate among supporters of various franchises; r/chalametsecrets for snippy comments on Timothee’s courtside looks; r/knicks for hype, mostly personal testimony from long-suffering fans and AI-generated graphics that put OG Anunoby’s face on the Statue of Liberty. On Friday, June 12, r/knicks flooded with a link to a WhatsApp chat for fans who would be in San Antonio for what we all hoped would be the team’s first championship in fifty-three years. I joined, hopeful that the internet might transform into something real.

“Hi! I’m in Austin for work and will drive down tomorrow if anyone needs a ride,” I wrote in the chat.…