Jalen Rose bout to get fired for telling the truth.

[Tracymcgoaty]

I can't stand hyperbole.

Modern day gladiators. Get out of here. Gladiators? You mean slaves forced to fight each other, animals, and the elements to THE DEATH?

They're paid MILLIONS of dollars and live the lives of gods, man. Nobody forced KD out there. He's a grown man.

Sucks what happened and he should never have been playing in the series to begin with, but to say he was unfairly influenced is yet another way of try to blame others rather than the person responsible.

Sure, was there media buzz? Of course.

Did his teammates want him out there? Of course.

Did the Warriors want him out there? Of course.

It's his job. It's what he's under contract to do. It's what he's paid tens of millions to do.

He made the decision.

If it were some child who didn't know better or some college student unfairly influenced by agents, nike, his team, his coach, the media, etc, then I'd agree.

But this is a grown man. A super star. One of the best there ever has been or ever will be. This isn't Zion Williamson playing the NCAA tournament, this is Kevin F******* Durant playing the NBA finals.

He made this decision.

Sure KD is to blame ofcourse. But like someone posted..sometimes people have to save someone from themselves..why was he cleared when it was clear from watching him play that he was nowhere near healthy. Same thing goes for looney..Dude looked like he was ready to collapse during the game.

Just to be clear im not absolving KD of the blame here. It's just a **** situation overall and it could have been avoided.

Save him from himself? He’s not some drug addict.

He’s a grown ass man that made a business decision.

Sure yeah i get that. Based on the comments i've read i realise i put too much blame where it shouldn't have went. Just to be clear i dont absolve KD of blame at all. Im just going to wait and see everything unfold before i make the same mistake i did when i made the first comment i made when i made this topic.

[Mind_Odyssey]

What Jalen Rose was inferring was that the culture of sports is a big part to blame for this injury, but at the same time, that exact culture blessed KD to live the life that he has been fortunate enough to live.

Like several posters on here have said, Durant made the decision by himself to play. It was no one but his own. Bob Myers didn't hold a gun to his head and say "YOU'RE PLAYING, KEVIN!" The pressure that he felt from his team was probably overblown by the media, looking for storylines and ratings. He felt that he was ok to play, and yes, the series being 1-3 for his team played a big part in his decision, but as a competitor, one can't fault Durant for playing. No one failed Durant in this situation, and what happened was unfortunate but it's what happened.

Exactly. Was he feeling a ton of pressure to go out there and play and try and help save GS season? 100%, Im sure he was feeling an obscene amount of pressure from fans, media and probably teammates. But that's the thing, he plays for an extremely popular sport and he is one of the most well known players in that sport. That sport has provided him countless opportunities while also making him an unbelievably wealthy individual. But ya its not all positive, all that does come with a cost and feeling crazy amount of pressure in a situation like this one, is one of those things.

You’re 100% right.

However, I’ve noticed the media and certain fans want to remove the pressure component from players. I mean damn, people literally want the perfect lifestyle imaginable for an athlete. That’s not how the world works.