I just thought of this.
Hear me out.
Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard (once upon a time in his
career) are basically in the same situation.
Leonard had a quad injury back when he was at San Antonio
and after playing the first eight games of his comeback, sat down to seek a second opinion, played another game, and shut himself down for the rest of the
season.
Durant, on the other hand, suffered an injury (initially
diagnosed as a calf strain) that forced him to miss more or less a month of NBA
Playoff action. Then on the brink of losing the NBA Finals to the Toronto
Raptors were asked to re-join the Golden State Warriors to salvage their
campaign. After a few minutes of playing time, Durant would aggravate his
injury.
The Achilles Tear injury has taken a lot of careers
including Kobe Bryant, DeMarcus Cousins, Elgin Baylor, Patrick Ewing, Chauncey
Billups, Rudy Gay, Elton Brand, and Isiah Thomas. Most of the names mentioned
were on the brink of retirement when they suffered the injury but according to
the SF Chronicle article, a Drexel University study uncovered that seven of the
18 NBA players that tore their Achilles between 1988 to 2011 never dared to return.
I guess with the exception of Dominique Wilkins who had two All-NBA citations
after suffering the injury.
But for The Human Highlight Reel, it was the beginning of
the end of his career.
Returning to the Kevin Durant injury, I just had this
thought.
Now I’m transferring my thoughts to Kawhi Leonard.
I said Kevin then I went to Kawhi.
Hear me out.
Kawhi Leonard came to San Antonio is a mid-first round
surprise. At this point, the Gregg Popovich-led Spurs had the likes of 35-ish Tim
Duncan, 34-ish Manu Ginobili, and a 29-year-old Tony Parker. The trio alongside
Popovich conspired for three championships and with the rise of Kawhi, they
finally found the player that would continue San Antonio’s winning ways.
In fact, Kawhi would become the Finals MVP of their fourth
title together in 2014.
However, I bet the locker room talks aren’t as awesome as
people would think. In fact, I bet the trio are forcing Kawhi to become the
leader and pressuring the person to follow the San Antonio ways. I bet they
thought they were helping but for some reason, they were stressing the guy out.
I could speculate that the talk could have been a shouting
match and the sit-out could be his last straw.
There was a similar incident with LaMarcus Aldridge a couple
of years prior but I guess he was able to connect with San Antonio’s locker
room culture.
I bet Kawhi is trying too hard and pleasing very little.
How opportune that Kawhi would rock San Antonio after the
retirement of Duncan.
With the alpha gone, we have the aging Argentine and the injury-prone
Frenchman left. All of a sudden, Kawhi realized that he needs to carry these
players for what could be their last championship drive. Now it’s okay with
Kawhi initially with Aldridge but after suffering the broken quads and these
veterans annoying him to the core, Leonard just had enough.
Especially the Tony Parker talk.
Especially the one that came from the dude who allegedly
destroyed a teammate’s marriage and self-destructing his in the process.
I mean… why would you cheat on Eva Longoria?
So he wanted out and the Spurs want none of it. I guess San
Antonio wanted to win one for their vets that the vets, in fact, ruined their
title aspirations. Manu Ginobili would retire the season after and Tony Parker
would change allegiances after 17 seasons to his subsequent retirement.
Popovich, in fact, has entertained thoughts of retirement as well. And for
Leonard who wanted to play in Los Angeles to be closer to his family and
friends, they sent him packing to Toronto.
And look where he is now.
As of this writing, Toronto may or may not have won the NBA
championship but for Canada, they already got what they have wanted for a long
time. And if you look at his environment, Kawhi has a good relationship with
Nick Nurse and he has a core of teammates that respects him as the leader and
at the same time have dreams of upstaging him.
I guess the same incident happened to Durant in Golden
State. However, the circumstances are different. Durant is looking for other
teams thanks to his player option. If this is going to be his last year with
the Warriors, then he needs to go out with a title. Also, Golden State will
move to a new arena next season and what better intro to their next chapter
than a championship presentation.
Also, the team isn’t strangers to this kind of pressure. The
team strives to be the best and sometimes they just couldn’t see the big
picture. A couple of years ago, Golden State became the first team to win 73
games in a season. This team forced their players to play in the times they
should have been resting and they lost the championship to the Cleveland
Cavaliers.
KD had to play because of the expectations, the press
releases made by his bosses and to rid of the stigma that Durant didn’t play in
the series because his mind is weak.
Durant is the reigning and defending Finals MVP and he won
the award in consecutive fashion.
So what the hell?
Durant didn’t take a second opinion and succumbed to his
competitive rage. Golden State wanted to milk Durant’s remaining days or in
desperate yearnings for a three-peat.
Right now, both parties are in need of a miracle to get out
from whatever bind they are in at the moment.
Now, despite the sure GSW money next season, Durant has
expressed desire to use his player option as a last resort just in case the
rest of the league is scared to sign him.
So I guess trust has been broken… just like what happened
with Kawhi and the Spurs?
END
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