Kevin Durant Achilles Injury Mega-Thread (Keep discussion here, please)

[13th Man]

Another blame Toronto fans for his injury while making no mention or questioning why he was playing in the first place. Neat.

[mtcan]

It’s amazing how much 12 minutes of basketball changes. Literally the most hated player in the NBA that I can ever recall now has everyone pulling for him. For a dude who just wants to be loved, and has been really bothered at the public sentiment of him, it’s a total turnaround.

He owns the Warriors right now. This situation is as big of a story as he wants it to be. He comes out and says “nah, I talked to everyone, al kinds of doctors, not just the teams, and they all said I was cool and I wanted to play” and it’s a non-story. He said he felt pressured and it’s franchise altering.

Then, during the same 12 minutes, he gets hurt, and the team and the fanbase that 80% of the country was pulling for looks horrible in a way people will still bring up 30 years from now.


I mean, every year you still hear about Philly fans booing and throwing snowballs at Santa Clause, and that happened 51 years ago, and is kind of funny. This wasn’t funny and no one is ever forgetting it. So much damage was done in 12 minuets, except to KD’s perception, which will be better than it’s been since Lebron went to the Heat and he resigned in OKC.

People wonder why we watch this stuff.

The team looks horrible? Why? And the country? Why? Please don't use such sweeping generalizations for an isolated incident. It makes you no better than the subset of people you are trying to shame. Every arena has those fans...every. And considering what's at stake and the emotion in the arena and occasion...someone's going to get carried away the wrong way. At this point it's done.

[Winsome Gerbil]

Read on Twitter

diplomatic as always.

[BallSacBounce]

Has anyone checked on the Knicks forum? Should we send someone over there to make sure they're alright?

Yeah we good. Lots of us on the full rebuild hype. All our FRPs plus two from Dallas, #3 and Mitchell, we good.

Would be nice to turn it around quickly but that hasn't ever happened for us. At least now for the first time we are rebuilding correctly. We'll suck next year too, good. Give us another top FRP.

[Guest202]

if he got hurt that quickly the doctors obviously mislead kd

There is no chance anyone told KD, his agent or his camp this below. End of the day KD should have been shut down a month ago, period. They stoked this come back every day by planting stories with water-carrying reporters. They know exactly what they did.

Read on Twitter

[zhenyasj]

The real snake is Myers. That sociopath was acting on that stage tonight. Only reason he is maybe emotional is because he worries he may be run out of the league for being a disgrace -- as he should be.

word, from a knick to a laker fan, what he did was straight trash, he altered this dood's career, forever

More bitter Knick fans coming out. KD's career will be fine with 2 championships, 2 Final MVPs, and another max deal to come. Knicks on the other hand....not so much.

[djsunyc]

Warriors risked Durants health for one meaningless win ... This just shows how much Warriors care about Durant.

Durant also risked his health for one huge win for his legacy. Let's not pretend the Warriors escorted him onto the court with armed guards ala The Longest Yard. This was a massive moment for him and the Warriors. Entirely possible somebody made a bad judgement call with all that hanging over them, but there was a huge upside to playing for Durant. What an opportunity to prove all the haters wrong and shut them up.

if i'm kd, anybody in my circle that said they were ok with me playing, should be gone. anybody that said i shouldn't play, can stay.

[Loaded_Hollows]

this is so wild, a bone headed call to force a player back, costed this man millions, and his legacy. myers wanna cry now? when at the championship last year he told kd that he just crewed up, steph was here all along? kick rocks myers

What?? I feel like I’m in the twilight zone. Wtf are you people talking about?

what do you mean? u know it was myers call to force that dood back, probably didnt let on the severity of that injury to him, the medical staff screwed him bro, wtf are u talking about?

and if you need a refresher about the joke he said to kd...

Watch on YouTube

he did not "costed this man millions" since 1. Nobody forced him to play and 2. He will get paid regardless. As for costing him his legacy, again I say...wtf are you talking about?

[BallSacBounce]

Clippers and Knicks will max him no matter what imo.

Unless Durant will be A-OK...Knicks no way, Scott Perry in charge now. MSG is no longer the graveyard for over the hill players.

No team will max him with an Achilles tear, that's freaking ludicrous.

Wes Matthews was "Maxed" before the cap explosion. Yes, 4 years ago teams gave Wes F-ing Matthews 17.5m a year 3 months after tearing his achilles. This guy was never an all-star or average above 16 points a game. (other teams offered him similar contracts)

I'm taking my chances on maxing KD over throwing 30m on a guy like Khris Middleton. There is too much cap space and not enough good players. Someone will take the risk.

Just won't be the Knicks...Scott Perry.

[RRyder823]

Warriors risked Durants health for one meaningless win ... This just shows how much Warriors care about Durant.

Not sure how you can say one meaningless win when it keeps them alive for the ultimate prize in basketball but you do you.

Should be noted that this actually helps Durants legacy more then 3 more championships with GS would

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[Benedict_Boozer]

Funny I'm a KD fan now - he showed some real heart stepping out there and balling with that injury. Respect to him, he will never be the same but he deserves props for laying it on the line.

[Lawyershawn]

Hilarious now watching all of RealGM pretend to care about Durant

I feel you but, RealGm isn't a homogenous group.

There are plenty of bad apples, but that's true of society in general.

Likewise, there are plenty of empathetic, thoughtful people in the world.

[LipSkinMatter]

You think Durant would let them lie about his injury in public? Or are you implying doctors lied to Durant? Or did you not think this through very far?

There was a doctor on CBS who said this sort of lower calve strain can lead to popping an achilles. Nobody in their right mind would have been saying come back if GSW came out and said "this strain could lead to an achilles pop, we're not risking it." They downplayed it and for 4 freakin' weeks whipped up a media campaign around KD's comeback. It's soooooo shady.

It all depends on what the likelihood of a calf strain leading to an Achilles injury actually is. If there was a 0.1% chance of this happening I don't really think you can blame them. If there was a 20% chance of this happening, fine.

[Free Rider]

The real snake is Myers. That sociopath was acting on that stage tonight. Only reason he is maybe emotional is because he worries he may be run out of the league for being a disgrace -- as he should be.

word, from a knick to a laker fan, what he did was straight trash, he altered this dood's career, forever

Yeah, this. If Myers pressured Durant to play, Durant's camp needs to call this out. I understand that it was Durant's ultimate decision to play, but anyone pressuring should have their NBA career ended.

What makes it worse is that it actually isn’t ultimately Durant’s decision; it’s the coaching staff and medical team’s. Durant could have very well have begged them to play but ultimately is the coach and the medical team that has to give the go ahead. It’s why Chris Bosh,
despite desperately wanting to play, never played another NBA game after his blod clot diagnosis because everyone around him knew it could kill him. Obviously this injury isn’t on the same level but it highlights that the organization is responsible for who plays on the court.

[zhenyasj]

Has anyone checked on the Knicks forum? Should we send someone over there to make sure they're alright?

All Knicks forums I've seen over the internet are crushed.

Feel somewhat bad for them

on behalf of knick fans, i can safely say we don't want to see this happen to any star, much as less one who was taken for granted on his own team, from his own teammates, (draymond) to management and now their medical staff. we care about our team, but we dont wanna see players go out like this man, especially how they did him was dirty

Please....he was taken for granted by idiot fans and media who only cares about hot takes. Knicks are in no position to take a high road on anything, unless it's tanking.

[Benedict_Boozer]

This helps KD's legacy IMO btw, no doubt about it.

[Dn4sty]

Warriors risked Durants health for one meaningless win ... This just shows how much Warriors care about Durant.

Durant also risked his health for one huge win for his legacy. Let's not pretend the Warriors escorted him onto the court with armed guards ala The Longest Yard. This was a massive moment for him and the Warriors. Entirely possible somebody made a bad judgement call with all that hanging over them, but there was a huge upside to playing for Durant. What an opportunity to prove all the haters wrong and shut them up.

Of course not, but the Warrior Athletic fan club writers were publishing articles questioning KD, the Warriors staff were dodgy about when KD would return. There is ZERO chance this is the same narrative leading up to the injury if it was Steph.

Further even if not playing KD led to the Warriors losing the finals “not shutting up the haters” (by the way this is dumb), everyone that has any sense of following the NBA clearly recognizes that while a Raptors championship still counts (and should be celebrated), that the outcome would have been far different had the Warriors been healthy.

I think it’s completely reasonable to say that the Warriors staff (medical, front office, and coaching) messed this one up. I also think it’s completely reasonable to say that this same staff would have handled things different leading up to tonight had either Steph or Klay had the same “calf” injury that KD had against Houston.

[sikma42]

Exactly...but the Spurs cleared him?!?!

Any questions about Kawhi seeking a second opinion last year?

Welp, guess this settles that argument.

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[MeloRoseNoah]

Bob Myers and KD knew the risks. It’s on them for this career ending injury. It sucks but the NBA will move on.

[Winsome Gerbil]

Unless Durant will be A-OK...Knicks no way, Scott Perry in charge now. MSG is no longer the graveyard for over the hill players.

No team will max him with an Achilles tear, that's freaking ludicrous.

Wes Matthews was "Maxed" before the cap explosion. Yes, 4 years ago teams gave Wes F-ing Matthews 17.5m a year 3 months after tearing his achilles. This guy was never an all-star or average above 16 points a game. (other teams offered him similar contracts)

I'm taking my chances on maxing KD over throwing 30m on a guy like Khris Middleton. There is too much cap space and not enough good players. Someone will take the risk.

Just won't be the Knicks...Scott Perry.

You can see how it can narrow things.

Can't be the Lakers fantasy, because Bron is running out of time and cannot wait.

Probably can't be one of the "two max slots" teams, because how are they going to attract the second max guy if they tell them they have to wait and lose for a full year until KD returns.