I don’t care what anyone says, there’s a major part, possibly the whole thing, of Kevin Durant that wanted the Warriors to lose last night against the Rockets and then lose in game 7. I’ll never be convinced other wise. We’ve seen him, particularly, look very petty and selfish in the past, so him secretly rooting against the team he’s currently on so that they don’t win anything without him making his efforts slightly diminished is very believable to me. So and old fashioned Carson Wentz situation is what we got here.
So as Steph Curry was flexing all over James Harden and the Rockets for 33 points in the second half and knocking them out of the playoffs again, Kevin Durant had to have an oh shit realization that this team might just win the the whole thing without him, pending he doesn’t come back again this year. If I’m Kevin Durant, I’m doing everything I can do to come back and play in the Western Conference Finals. Even if he’s still reeling from the calf injury and not 100%, you’d rather try and play and lose, or possibly win it all, than not give it a go and have the Warriors win a championship without you. I don’t think that’s a level of doubt and questions KD will want to deal with as he heads to the Knicks this Summer.
This is reminiscent of when Carson Wentz got hurt two seasons ago and Nick Foles went in and played lights out and led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl. No way Carson Wentz enjoyed that experience just like Kevin Durant isn’t enjoying his current one. How could he? How could he be fine with the team that’s supposed to be his going out and accomplishing the #1 goal without him? Kind of gets people thinking that maybe they don’t truly need you even if you’re fantastic at what you do. That’s exactly what happened for a year+ and it’s only natural. Now, I realize that the situations are slightly different due to Durant having already won two championships where Wentz was only in his second season with zero championships, but the mindset that I feel both these guys have and are in are similar.
Athletes are as selfish and flawed as you and me. They’re just extremely talented or are a superior athlete. But, they’re still human. I don’t blame Wentz or Durant for feeling like this either. I don’t think this makes them bad guys or even bad teammates. As long as they do a good job masking it and still being a professional, there won’t be any issues. It be super interesting to see an athlete publicly show displeasure for their team winning without him or her, but that’ll probably never happen and even though I like my athletes to be genuine, this is a line that is a difficult one for them to cross due to the vast majority of people believing that this line of thinking would be highly toxic.
Either way, the road to the finals is so much more interesting with this storyline out there. I wrote the other day that Curry and the rest of the Warriors are now recharged and giddy at the prospect at playing like their old selves with out Durant. It’ll be fascinating to see KD try and get back on the court and how they adjust back to him being there. Like TO said “that’s my quarterback” “get your popcorn ready.”
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