Yet all this success contained some of the seeds of decline. Ethan Sherwood Strauss''s clear-eyed exposé reveals the team''s culture, its financial ambitions and struggles, and the price that its players and managers have paid for all their winningFrom Lacob''s unlikely acquisition of the team to Kevin Durant''s controversial departure, Strauss shows how the smallest moments can define success or failure for years.

And, looking ahead, Strauss ponders whether this organization can rebuild after its abrupt fall from the top, and how a relentless business wears down its players and executivesThe Victory Machine is a defining book on the modern NBA: it not only rewrites the story of the Warriors, but shows how the Darwinian business of pro basketball really works.