Kawhi don't make sense

[Damkac]

The guy uses every opportunity to NOT play basketball. It seems like he don't have passion to play and just treats it like a job.
But the improvement he made through his career is one of the most impressive ever. How can somebody improve so much without being passionate?

Other than missing games Kawhi is also known for being very shy and socially awkward to the point it becomed a meme. You would think somebody like him would be happy in a small market team without much media pressure. But instead he was fixated on playing in LA. He even left two teams that he won championship with to be in LA. Why? I understand that this could be the goal for someone who wants attention, celebrity buddies, movie roles etc. But not for shy, awkward guy.

[One_and_Done]

His family wanted him to live in LA.

He was/is passionate about winning, it's just his body is kinda shot at this point.

[Johnny Tomala]

What doesn't make sense is Team USA cutting him so early why they waited for KD to recover from injury. I feel bad for Kawhi, as he will never play for Team USA in his career. They should have kept him.

[lambchop]

What doesn't make sense is Team USA cutting him so early why they waited for KD to recover from injury. I feel bad for Kawhi, as he will never play for Team USA in his career. They should have kept him.

Team USA knew exactly what they'd get from KD, while no one can predict what Kawhi would look like. KD went months without playing a game and then proceeded to make 9 in a row. No rust at all.

As for the not being passionate thing, imo it's simply due to injuries hampering him. He saw his peak in 2017 and some nice play in 2019 and 2020, but essentially ever since 2017 his body has deteriorated year after year. It must be discouraging, but he's also set financially and without a fully functional body I don't see him achieving anything career wise that would significantly improve his legacy.

[madskillz8]

The guy uses every opportunity to NOT play basketball. It seems like he don't have passion to play and just treats it like a job.

If I treat my job like he treats it, I will be fired before the weekend though.

[UcanUwill]

I see a lot of myself in him, but I could be totally wrong. If hes like me, I can understand his improvement. Love for the game is there, worketic is there, but working on your game in safe private internment is different than being a public star and having to play across the country infront of cameras and thousands of people.

I have sociophobia, same thing Royce White supposedly had, and I would love to just practice hoops or play with very close people, but I couldn't do it anywhere else. If I had to, I just pretended I cant do anything and just waited it out.

I couldnt imagibe being in Kawhis shoes. Even if i was top 5 guy in the world and loved the game, pro job would be very very difficult thing to handle up.

[UcanUwill]

What doesn't make sense is Team USA cutting him so early why they waited for KD to recover from injury. I feel bad for Kawhi, as he will never play for Team USA in his career. They should have kept him.

Didnt they say they didn't want to cut him, but they were pushed to cut him?

[zimpy27]

Kawhi's father was killed when he was 16 years old, murdered out the front of the car wash he owned. This was on the night that Kawhi had a high school basketball game and he committed to play in his father honour. I think he wants to play in LA for his family.

Kawhi's family have spoken about Kawhi using basketball as therapy to help him get over the murder of his father. But he was never the same after his father was murdered, he was withdrawn.

I think more recently his sister was then put away for life for murder a few years back.

He's a complex character that's had a hard life. I wouldn't expect to understand him but perhaps he works hard out of fear of not having the game to help him through life, as opposed to love for the game like most. Fear is an even more powerful motivator than love. That might explain OP a bit.

[Ken Bannister]

Kawhi's father was killed when he was 16 years old, murdered out the front of the car wash he owned. This was on the night that Kawhi had a high school basketball game and he committed to play in his father honour. I think he wants to play in LA for his family.

Kawhi's family have spoken about Kawhi using basketball as therapy to help him get over the murder of his father. But he was never the same after his father was murdered, he was withdrawn.

I think more recently his sister was then put away for life for murder a few years back.

He's a complex character that's had a hard life. I wouldn't expect to understand him but perhaps he works hard out of fear of not having the game to help him through life, as opposed to love for the game like most. Fear is an even more powerful motivator than love. That might explain OP a bit.

And 1 for the insight

[GrandTheftRondo]

He has a degenerate knee problem.

I really don’t know why people keep acting like his knee issues aren’t real.

[Sixers in 4]

Kawhi's father was killed when he was 16 years old, murdered out the front of the car wash he owned. This was on the night that Kawhi had a high school basketball game and he committed to play in his father honour. I think he wants to play in LA for his family.

Kawhi's family have spoken about Kawhi using basketball as therapy to help him get over the murder of his father. But he was never the same after his father was murdered, he was withdrawn.

I think more recently his sister was then put away for life for murder a few years back.

He's a complex character that's had a hard life. I wouldn't expect to understand him but perhaps he works hard out of fear of not having the game to help him through life, as opposed to love for the game like most. Fear is an even more powerful motivator than love. That might explain OP a bit.

At the end of the day, people expect Kawhi to treat basketball differently than the profession it is. His injuries are real, and he should not have to play while hurt just for some kind of narrative for NBA fans.

The rest of the stuff is life. Many people experience the early loss of their father. I was young when my father passed away. Family drama affects is not unique to Kawhi either and besides it is unrelated to anything to do with basketball. Dude does not want to play injured, and let us face it, Embiid gets called a choker by the majority of this board when he returns from an injury early and is seen hobbling around on one leg. With NBA fans, you can never win.

[Sane]

It’s not that complicated, the answer is screaming in your face.

He either didn’t improve all that much or he is actually injured. You’re spelling it out yourself, your position is not compatible with reality. You have to change a variable.

[Quattro]

He has a degenerate knee problem.

I really don’t know why people keep acting like his knee issues aren’t real.

It's astounding to me that people continue to just pretend that he's not hurt and just likes to take time off. He's going to go down as one of the biggest "what ifs" when his career is done due to his injury history and everything he managed to accomplish in spite of it

[NO-KG-AI]

Kawhi wants to play basketball as little as possible. But he’s also cognizant that being his best will make him a fortune, so he works ridiculously hard on his body and skills. He isn’t passionate about basketball, but he is clearly passionabout improvement and $$$. You don’t have to love something to put the work in. Dude is a machine.

[Quattro]

Kawhi's father was killed when he was 16 years old, murdered out the front of the car wash he owned. This was on the night that Kawhi had a high school basketball game and he committed to play in his father honour. I think he wants to play in LA for his family.

Kawhi's family have spoken about Kawhi using basketball as therapy to help him get over the murder of his father. But he was never the same after his father was murdered, he was withdrawn.

I think more recently his sister was then put away for life for murder a few years back.

He's a complex character that's had a hard life. I wouldn't expect to understand him but perhaps he works hard out of fear of not having the game to help him through life, as opposed to love for the game like most. Fear is an even more powerful motivator than love. That might explain OP a bit.

At the end of the day, people expect Kawhi to treat basketball differently than the profession it is. His injuries are real, and he should not have to play while hurt just for some kind of narrative for NBA fans.

The rest of the stuff is life. Many people experience the early loss of their father. I was young when my father passed away. Family drama affects is not unique to Kawhi either and besides it is unrelated to anything to do with basketball. Dude does not want to play injured, and let us face it, Embiid gets called a choker by the majority of this board when he returns from an injury early and is seen hobbling around on one leg. With NBA fans, you can never win.

After he hit his shot against the sixers, he played most of the Milwaukee series and the entire finals with a bum leg while being the best player on the court for most of those games.

And everyone processes and deals with trauma differently.

[Sofia]

Last season, Kawhi played 68 of the first 75 games of the season, before getting injured.

He did not miss a back to back in those 75 games.

He had one game were he played less than 28 minutes, which was a first game back from missing a game. He played over 30 minutes 54 times.

The guy uses every opportunity to NOT play basketball. It seems like he don't have passion to play and just treats it like a job.

This is false.

[TFJava]

At this point, it is what it is with Kawhi. They can try to build a team around him and ask him to do less heavy lifting. Play out his contract and then rebulld the team.

[og15]

Last season, Kawhi played 68 of the first 75 games of the season, before getting injured.

He did not miss a back to back in those 75 games.

He had one game were he played less than 28 minutes, which was a first game back from missing a game. He played over 30 minutes 54 times.

The guy uses every opportunity to NOT play basketball. It seems like he don't have passion to play and just treats it like a job.

This is false.

Some people are still for some weird reason in a head in the sand denial about the fact that the guys body is not normal. If Kawhi was playing in the early 2000's he would have probably been retired due to injury by now.

It's really not a mystery, it's actually very plain.

Kawhi for example has played 45 more games than Zion over the last 5 seasons, and Zion is 9 years younger, at the start of his career, and doesn't have a degenerative knee issue as far as we know.

[iLLmatic860]

He has a knee problem and hes a low key guy. You can’t knock somebody for wanting to be home and closer to family.

[kenwood3333]

His body has been breaking down years ago, and he should thank his team for allowing him to do load managements, otherwise he would not have gotten the 3 year 150m extension.