NBA introducing new award for best regular-season team

North American sports tend to downplay regular-season success and put all of the focus on the playoffs and being the last team standing at the end of the postseason. However, there are so many factors that go into being that last team standing: injuries and health, getting the right matchups and sometimes just simple dumb luck. While the championship is always the ultimate goal, there is still something to be said for being the best team over a full regular season — especially an 82-game season.

The NBA is not the first North American sports league to award a similar trophy.

The NHL also hands out an annual award to the team with the best regular-season record, awarding the Presidents' Trophy since the 1985-86 season.

That award, though, is mostly seen as a punchline to hockey fans, while winning it is often viewed as a curse for the postseason.

Since its inception, only eight of the 36 winners have actually gone on to win the Stanley Cup, while none have done so since the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2012-13 season. There have been seven winners that did not even advance beyond the first round.

Just for comparison's sake, since the start of the 2010-11 season there have been four NBA teams that finished with the league's best record and also went on to win the NBA championship that season. The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors were the most recent team to accomplish it.