Sure sounds like KD is leaving

[Sleepy51]

ABC/ESPN is suggesting Warriors pressures KD to play and now “raw emotions” in the locker room with Kleimann in there and Myers in there too.

Sounding like they’re yelling at Myers?

You mean the same people that said Klay deserved his injury because he (apparently) kicked his leg out trying to draw a foul?

"I don't believe there's anybody to blame. But I understand it's this world, and if you have to, you can blame me." He's talking about crap like this.

I think those raw emotions in the locker room we're grown man tears. I don't think anyone was yelling at Myers.

Exactly. The context of that report about raw emotions was Doris saying she wasn’t going to ask any more questions while they were all still literally IN PAIN over what just happened

[xdrta+]

I could see a scenario where they bring everyone back next year except Livingston and Jerebko. Possibly adding someone like Gay, Ariza, or Hood with the MLE to start while KD recovers and then move to the bench once he returns.

Maybe draft a pg.

I would add Cook to the Livingston/Jerebko list. Two years is enough to prove yourself, IMO he hasn't done it.

[oaktownwarriors87]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

[KevinMcreynolds]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

Too big of a risk imo. I saw a list of NBA players that have torn their achilles and none of them returned to form except Dominque Wilkins. It was literally one guy out of about 20 players.

[northoakland510]

They need to max him out. The dude went out there and gave all he had.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[xdrta+]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

No one's going to max him out (well, depending on the MRI) assuming a Cousins level injury. What seems most likely is he opts in for next year and rehabs. After all, that's what those option years are for, security in case of major injury. Collect $31M and spend the year rehabbing. Then he'll see where he stands.

[wco81]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

Too big of a risk imo. I saw a list of NBA players that have torn their achilles and none of them returned to form except Dominque Wilkins. It was literally one guy out of about 20 players.

Rudy Gay actually shot very efficiently this year. In fact he shot a career-best 40.2 from beyond the arc.

His FG % both years in San Antonio have been above his 45.6 career average.

However his shot volume is way down and his minutes have been cut way down, 21.6 in his first season after the Achilles and 26.7 last year. His career average is 34 MPG.

Now some of that could be a different role on the Spurs than he had on other teams before his injury but also may be that he's unable to play as many minutes as before.

Spurs may have gotten him some high percentage catch and shoot looks though, rather than him having to create shots for himself, though he did look good with some pull up jumpers from midrange when he's played against the Warriors.

KD is a great shooter so he can certainly be a great catch and shoot player. Someone said a 7-foot Klay. But not sure he's built for running off the ball as much as Klay does. I think it could be hard for him to corral the rebound, dribble it up court himself and do these pull up 3s which has been his signature with the Warriors.

[KevinMcreynolds]

Rudy Gay is a good example, and he's been getting one year contracts the last couple of years, right? We'd be giving someone the biggest contract in league history.

[Sleepy51]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

No one's going to max him out (well, depending on the MRI) assuming a Cousins level injury. What seems most likely is he opts in for next year and rehabs. After all, that's what those option years are for, security in case of major injury. Collect $31M and spend the year rehabbing. Then he'll see where he stands.

If KD is less explosive due to long term impact of an Achillies injury, then he's still a 7 foot 3 point shooter and an excellent shot blocker/rebounder that can play smallball 5. He would just be less capable of being part of a switching defense, or driving and penetrating. Basically, gimpy Durant = Career Dirk Nowitzki. Do you max a 31 year old Dirk Nowitzki? I do.

[xdrta+]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

No one's going to max him out (well, depending on the MRI) assuming a Cousins level injury. What seems most likely is he opts in for next year and rehabs. After all, that's what those option years are for, security in case of major injury. Collect $31M and spend the year rehabbing. Then he'll see where he stands.

If KD is less explosive due to long term impact of an Achillies injury, then he's still a 7 foot 3 point shooter and an excellent shot blocker/rebounder that can play smallball 5. He would just be less capable of being part of a switching defense, or driving and penetrating. Basically, gimpy Durant = Career Dirk Nowitzki. Do you max a 31 year old Dirk Nowitzki? I do.

Problem is, no one knows what he'll be like after going through rehab. Maybe he'll be as you describe, maybe not. Tying up that much of the cap at this stage, until he's 36 yo, is a huge risk. I can't imagine the Warriors would take that risk.

[Mylie10]

The Warriors 100% take the risk.

[wco81]

So Windhorst says some executives still expect him to opt out.

Bobby Marks said he's talked to 3 teams who still plan to pursue him. Whether they will offer a full 4 year 140 million is unknown but they wouldn't put in any injury exceptions in their contracts.

[Sleepy51]

No one's going to max him out (well, depending on the MRI) assuming a Cousins level injury. What seems most likely is he opts in for next year and rehabs. After all, that's what those option years are for, security in case of major injury. Collect $31M and spend the year rehabbing. Then he'll see where he stands.

If KD is less explosive due to long term impact of an Achillies injury, then he's still a 7 foot 3 point shooter and an excellent shot blocker/rebounder that can play smallball 5. He would just be less capable of being part of a switching defense, or driving and penetrating. Basically, gimpy Durant = Career Dirk Nowitzki. Do you max a 31 year old Dirk Nowitzki? I do.

Problem is, no one knows what he'll be like after going through rehab. Maybe he'll be as you describe, maybe not. Tying up that much of the cap at this stage, until he's 36 yo, is a huge risk. I can't imagine the Warriors would take that risk.

I'm saying based on what we already know about achilles recovery, he won't be less useful than a > 30 Nowitzki. Supposing that he will never walk again, or will forget how to shoot a basketball is preposterous.

[Samurai]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

Right, he could not get it somewhere else. If we max him, it can be for 5 years, assuming he won't play next year but can play the next 4. If someone else maxes him, its for 4 years, assuming he won't play next year they only have him playing for 3.

[East Bay Sports]

Basically, gimpy Durant = Career Dirk Nowitzki. Do you max a 31 year old Dirk Nowitzki? I do.

I'm sure you didn't mean for this to come across as disrespectfully as it did for Dirk lol.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

Too big of a risk imo. I saw a list of NBA players that have torn their achilles and none of them returned to form except Dominque Wilkins. It was literally one guy out of about 20 players.

If Luxury tax really does not matter and only winning matters and if the Warriors really don't have cap room to sign players even if KD leaves then gambling on Durant getting healthy is a no brainer. Pay Durant whatever it takes to keep him.

Cousins will be gone because the Warriors can't match other teams offers.
Warriors can give Cousins money to somebody.

Warriors might find players like JaVale and David West available at minimum contracts.

[superunknown]

we need to max him out on a multi year deal for the simple reason that his tenure with the warriors cannot end -up like that.
the guy went out yesterday with his career on the line and showed the heart of a true warrior (literally and figurative). he deserves to be treated like one.

[Samurai]

I hope they max him out, and I hope for KD's sake that he takes it.

Not that he couldn't get it somewhere else, but it would take a lot of pressure off of him. Another year of free agency talk would just be exhausting.

Too big of a risk imo. I saw a list of NBA players that have torn their achilles and none of them returned to form except Dominque Wilkins. It was literally one guy out of about 20 players.

If Luxury tax really does not matter and only winning matters and if the Warriors really have cap room to sign players even if KD leaves then gambling on Durant getting healthy is a no brainer. Pay Durant whatever it takes to keep him.

Cousins will be gone because the Warriors can't match other teams offers.
Warriors can give Cousins money to somebody.

Warriors might find players like JaVale and David West available at minimum contracts.

There are two statements here and I don't believe both are equally true. On the first statement, Lacob has stated before that he is willing to pay the luxury tax to keep this group together to win championships. Only Lacob really knows how far he is willing to reach into his wallet, but that is what he said. But I don't believe the second statement is true. I'm certainly no cap expert, but its been reported that even if KD leaves, we would still be over the cap. Even being over the cap, we could re-sign KD because we have his Bird rights - just as we do with Klay and Draymond. Obviously we would not have that for players not currently on the team. So I believe that means that we could re-sign KD even though we are over the cap as long as Lacob is willing to spend that much money. We would not have that "KD money" to sign someone else.

[Outside]

ABC/ESPN is suggesting Warriors pressures KD to play and now “raw emotions” in the locker room with Kleimann in there and Myers in there too.

Sounding like they’re yelling at Myers?

The team had absolutely no leverage to force KD into the court and certainly not in opposition to doctors orders.

When Myers says to blame him he means blame him for not overriding everyone including KD to prioritize the long term over the immediate present. He doesn’t mean the team forced KD to play against medical clearance. He means he should have been the adult in the room to say “KD, we expect to have you back next year and whether you come back or not, it’s not worth it.”

From the first injury it looked exactly like an Achilles injury. They probably downplayed it publicly to keep Toronto off balance for preparation. In all likelihood presented the team and KD with an outlook that was going to require offseason surgery either way, the question being would the injury be exacerbated by playing on it. And it was. There is absolutely zero point zero percent chance that everyone involved in making the medical clearance decision didn’t understand the risks. This isn’t the North Dallas Forty world and it’s most definitely not football. Team pressures aside, no doctor is going to jeopardize their license or the liability of obscuring this kind of risk from a patient.

Playing was important to KD and the team. They chose to take on the risk. He will heal and recover and continue his magnificent career and I seriously doubt KD will ever regret trying to help this team win this finals. He will regret only that he couldn’t help more.

This is what so many people refuse to acknowledge -- that there is risk for any player attempting to return from injury. It could be a compensating injury, a reinjury to the same area, or injury from attempting to play when the body isn't yet in peak physical condition.

Some (many? most?) of the second guessers are acting like athletes shouldn't ever return until there is zero risk. That's not how it works, like, ever.

[wco81]

Kendrick Perkins says KD shouldn’t have played at all and they’re all expressing shock at lack of minutes restriction, playing him 12 of the first 14 minutes.

Windhorst says he’s not sure but Warriors played over 46 minutes a game in Houston series.

I think ideally, KD opts in and they can offer him the multi year deal next year. Warriors will get a lot of flack for not offering him a 5 year deal but a 5 year deal ends their run for sure.