Toronto Raptors: 4 Things the Durant Injury Revealed About All of Us
By Go Paolo
NBA Players: Brothers-in-Arms
Kevin Durant has experienced an extremely volatile career trajectory. He went from the NBA’s next big thing as a former MVP of the Oklahoma City Thunder, to the top villain after he joined the 73-win Warriors in 2016. And now, he could be embracing a new role: a fallen hero.
Durant’s sacrifice showed his heart and passion and even if the sternest Durant haters can’t help but admire him. He sacrificed his body out there and may have jeopardized his career going forward. At 30, Durant had at least 4-5 years of prime basketball left.
His effort wasn’t unnoticed as players and athletes everywhere defended him. But none was as heartfelt as his own mother’s:
For ALL of you who question my son as a Man, question his Heart, question his Integrity and question his LOVE for the game of basketball, you DON’T know him. He has a heart of a true Warrior! This too shall pass. God Bless you ALL. pic.twitter.com/y0qcQ5Boga
— Wanda Durant (@MamaDurant) June 11, 2019
More noticeable, Raptors like Kyle Lowry and Danny Green came to his aid immediately following his injury. They even shushed the fans, who were cheering, as they helped Durant back to the locker room.
His own teammates led by Andre Iguodala and Steph Curry were visibly shaken. Curry was diplomatic in addressing the fan reactions although Lowry was more dismissive towards it citing it was “unacceptable”.
They may be rivals on the court, but NBA players are a band of brothers. When push comes to shove, they will come to each other’s aid even over fans, management, media, or whoever else.
"In this league, we’re all brothers Kyle Lowry"
In what could have been the final and most important game of the season, both Warriors and Raptors players focused on their fallen brother. None of it mattered at the moment.
Players have a unique experience that only a handful of individuals can relate too. They can rely on friends and family, but they’ll never be able to fully understand the experience.
Team management is incentivized to value the franchise, rather than the players. We saw Masai Ujiri unceremoniously ship DeMar DeRozan away while Danny Ainge did the same thing to Isaiah Thomas in Boston.
At the end of the day, players need to look after other players.
Monday night, the fans showed they aren’t reliable either. That that they can go from civil to savage in a few seconds.