Would you have played?

[Johnny Bball]

If they lied to me, sure...if they told me I could be out for a year...nope.

Durant didn’t drive until that play. I thought they were going to turn him into a spot up shooter. It took one drive basically right?

[Clay Davis]

I called Bob Myers and told him my body was ready and he said only if I bought him donuts and I was like naw man u a coolbrain fool

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[rotty]

Never trust the player. Ofc they will want to play.

The medical staff obviously cleared him facing pressure. I wouldn’t have played because its a serious injury and i am facing free agency in a month. More so because of the injury. Its career ending

[Winsome Gerbil]

The answer is probably yes, and it's why I can't stand all the whining in here. Would I risk pain, risk reinjuring my calf, etc. etc. etc. Absolutely and obviously. And if you wouldn't then I have no respect. You would have to post armed guards to keep me off that court in an elimination game.

But, BUT, the one big exception would be if somebody said hey, it's your achilles, and hey if you play you could blow it out. That's what we don't know and may not, because it's likely to be fuzzy. But would I risk my achilles if I knew the risk was significant? No.

I for one have a hard time believing that KD went out there knowing his achilles was in jeopardy. It had to be in the back of his mind, but hey, strained calf might explain it. It's what the doctors said. Discomfort, not getting better, but it's an elimination game, and I have all summer to heal. It's now or never. I would have to hear from a doctor that the achilles was in jeopardy, but likely as not that would have been soft-pedaled if it was even diagnosed.

[Mos_Heat]

Yes. It's the Finals, you may never have this opportunity again

[Chuck Everett]

Not with a 200 million dollar payday looming in free agency. No way.

[Winsome Gerbil]

Never trust the player. Ofc they will want to play.

The medical staff obviously cleared him facing pressure. I wouldn’t have played because its a serious injury and i am facing free agency in a month. More so because of the injury. Its career ending

People really REALLY need to quit using that term. No it's not.

Career altering is a possibility. But ending is only if you are old or a marginal bencher anyway who can't afford to lose anything.

[naabzor]

I mean it's about long term health too. You are going to play ball till what age, 38 if you are lucky? You don't want to cripple yourself for the rest of your life and blowing achilles here and there it is not fun.

[SappySkunk]

I'd take kawhi's approach. I don't have anything to prove to anyone at this point, no way i play.

[Hroz]

No.

I don't care what people think of me so I wouldn't be pressured into playing.

[The_Hater]

I can’t speak for the armchair quarterbacks who never played a sport but a huge majority of NBA players would have tried to play. Most basketball players are competitive by nature and playing in the NBA finals is what it’s all about, but many people here are acting like this happened during a pickup game in August. It’s just easy for people to claim otherwise now based on what happened.

[KrAzY3]

It's the championship. If you think you'd have sat out the Finals when you were cleared by everyone, you have no competitive spirit at all and you probably never played sports in your life.

[xfactor99]

I can’t speak for the armchair quarterbacks who never played a sport but a huge majority of NBA players would have tried to play. Most basketball players are competitive by nature and playing in the NBA finals is what it’s all about, but many people here are acting like this happened during a pickup game in August. It’s just easy for people to claim otherwise now based on what happened.

Most sports players in general are insanely competitive compared to the average person. You hear stories all the time about Rajon Rondo murdering kids in Connect 4, Jim Harbaugh making kids cry playing laser tag, they are just wired differently than the rest of us. KD clearly loves bball, I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the high end for competitiveness even for athletes.

[Jazz9]

If I felt fine and the medical staff gave me the go ahead, yeah.
If they told me that I could play but there was a chance I could I could aggravate the injury or suffer an even worse one, no way.
Not puting my career in jeopardy over a game no matter the importance.

[SerialChiller]

Id have played for sure and wouldnt have accepted no for an answer. But thats just the way im wired. When i played sports i played through a lot of stuff just out of pure stubbornness and because i hated to miss out on playing.

[Hugi Mancura]

Yes. I have too high competitive spirit to stay out. I have played soccer with broken leg and basketball games with torn MCL (didn't know seriousness of those injuries during those games, found out depth of injuries after). I KD's case it also depends a lot what doctor's have said. If they would have said that's there's no big danger to re-injure myself I would have hard to find to find excuse not to play. You have to trust doctor's. They are professionals. I might ask second opinion thought.

There's always a change to injury yourself in professional sports. Fear of injury doesn't stop anyone from playing it.

[ishoy123]

I get upset when I can't attend my weekly pickup games. I can only imagine what it feels like to not be able to play in the NBA Finals.

[dhsilv2]

Nope, I play for myself and my family. I don't own the Warriors organization anything. 100% hired gun and dgaf.

Pretty much this. Especially after that Myers "joke" at the championship parade last year. F them, if I'm out there I'm full on Uncle Dennis mode. I wanna be 101 % healthy. No IT / Ainge funny business for me.

101% healthy? You wouldn't play more than 20 games a year with that requirement.

[heatwillbeback]

Completely depends on what he was told, which we don’t know.

If he was told it was a pain tolerance issue, then sure, give it a go.

If he was told it was an injury that could get worse if he plays (for example a partial tear becoming s full tear), then hell no.

[dhsilv2]

I think a lot of people here are using hindsight when they are saying they wouldn’t play.

No one, especially KD, thought he’d go out there for 12 minutes and tear an achilles. The same way Gordon Hayward didn’t expect to destroy his entire foot in game 1 of the season. Nobody actually has any idea what’s going to happen when they step out there. Nor do people know if they’ll get hit by a car on the way to the arena. Life is a set of calculated risks based on the rewards that you want. Best believe any fear I have of getting in an accident is outweighed by my desire to earn money and provide for my family. Similarly,
I believe for most athletes the fear of injury or reinjury is usually outweighed by the desire to compete and win at the highest levels (and or get paid). If KD was a scrub player and “toughed” it out and played and did well I’m sure he’d earn himself more money. Like Looney - he’s more valuable to GMs and teams because they see the sacrifice he’s willing to make to help his team win a chip.

So for the people that say no does that mean when you aren’t 100% and it’s a team sport like hoops or soccer you haven’t gone out and played? I remember in high school playing through a sprained wrist, sprained ankle, taping up fingers, wearing a lower back brace etc. KD was out there doing dunks, dancing, lots of different activity before stepping out there.

Played soccer all my life..Everytime i got a hamstring strain it was like getting stabbed in the leg everytime i tried to play. I used to tell my coach to let me play..i ended up hurting the team more than i helped it. Couldn't move well, sure i could jog but i couldn't maximise myself at all. You're not helping the team being out there not even at 70% health. I seriously doubt Durant was even 70% healthy.

He looked a touch sluggish but he was playing great and was clearly a plus on the court.