Posted May 15, 2014 by Ian Benedict Mia

Whenever playing any kind of team sport, it’s important to have teamwork and cooperation among the members. In basketball, there are five of you in a team that need to learn how each and every one of you moves in the court. That's how team chemistry is first developed, but what happens as the games progress towards a different stage?

Studies have found that team performance may diminish during crucial NBA games like the playoffs, and the players would rather concentrate on their personal performance as means for winning the games (Uhlmann & Barnes, 2014). Despite having a strong group incentive on winning the NBA title, cooperative play diminishes during playoff games. Moreover, it was found that players who undergo selfish play are also more likely to be rewarded with future contracts as compared to those who assist their teammates. For instance, they’re more likely to receive a higher salary than those who performed many assists in the games.

For years, the NBA has become a world-renowned association of basketball teams in the United States. As youngsters, we’ve come to admire how good the players are and how they were able to perform those crazy dribbling, slam dunks, flexible layups, flashy passes, and many others. Although selfish play may possibly increase during crucial games in the playoffs, the players may also have their own reasons. One is increasing their individual reputations as NBA players, and another is to make their team win. Both are in fact noble deeds, yet when you sacrifice team effort to win a game, it wouldn’t be fair to your teammates.

This study revolutionizes modern sports psychology, and as more studies come up we learn to understand more the different dynamics present in any team sport. Selfish play may also be present in some other sports, but for some like Volleyball wherein you’re not certain where the ball would drop, selfish play won’t do you any good.

To know more about the study, read: http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0095745&representation=PDF

Photo taken from http://ph.nba.com/photo-gallery/81/playoff-photos

Source: Uhlmann E.L. & Barnes, C.M. (2014). Selfish play increases during high-stakes NBA games and is rewarded with more lucrative contracts. PLoS ONE 9(4):

e95745.