Would you have played?

[Hugi Mancura]

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.

To be honest. Mathematically you can never be 101% healthy, so you would never play a single game in your life.

[dhsilv2]

i wouldve wanted to play but i hope everyone around me did their best to prevent that.

Precisely this. The Warriors failed him in several ways.

You shouldn't throw a guy into the middle of the finals that suffered a muscle injury which will predispose him to other/further injury. Also, they had no legitimate plan on integrating him into the game, they just ran him out there with no minutes restriction, role reduction or anything of the sort. Worst of all, if what Rachel Nichols and the ABC broadcast crew reported pre-game about the medical staff saying he couldn't do any more damage to the injury he already had (the calf tear), that was very poor medical consultation. If even that were true in the literal sense, the risk of other injury, especially achilles injury is increased. To me, the training staff just got it wrong.

Do you think she clearly took what they said and effectively communicated it?

[dhsilv2]

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.

It's career altering 99.99%. Ending...yeah it's not a career ender especially for someone with KD's game.

[likemycurryhot]

Players in KD's shoes can't win. I don't think you get to his level without an insanely competitive personality that pushes him to do what others would never even attempt. Yet, on this board he's been continuously labeled a coward. If he had sat out the series the same posters calling out the Warriors organization, the doctors, and his teammates, would have doubled down on the KD is a cupcake messaging.

Its impossible for me to say what KD should have done because I don't have access to the same information he used to make his decision but I respect his choice to play. In part because I feel it was driven by a love of the game and his drive to support his teammates. If it was me I know those would be huge motivators and I'd probably play too.

[everdiso]

If you already had 2 'ships, why would you sacrifice the rest of your career for an extremely long shot of winning just one more?

[JeepCSC]

Better question might be would you have played Durant.

[dhsilv2]

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.

How big a deal is a full tear of the calf muscle? Should be a few stitches in a few months of rehab. I'd do that for a decent promotion at my job now.

[dhsilv2]

If you already had 2 'ships, why would you sacrifice the rest of your career for an extremely long shot of winning just one more?

To have won 3 straight...something that only a few teams in NBA history ever did? To be on the same level as MJ, Shaq, Russell, and Mikkan? A title is nice but winning 3 straight puts you on another level. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars already. Heck at this point his career is already switching from nba player to investor.

I'd also add there's no way in hell KD thought with him playing it was a long shot.

[prophet_of_rage]

Nope nope nope

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[skones]

Absolutely, 100%, I'm playing.

[deanwoof]

No. Next question please.

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[TheGOATWill]

I would have played. Human instinct is to be out there with your brothers. I can't count the number of severely wounded people in Iraq I saw yanking out tubes and climbing out of beds trying to go back to the unit. Grown men in tears pleading to stay while still bleeding through 150 stitches. It would have taken my mom to talk me out of playing.

[Karate Diop]

Yes. I would have played. If I was that good it'd be killing me inside not being able to help my guys in the FINz. This is what you play for. Team over everythang.

[shangrila]

Assuming my life experiences up to this point are relevant? No, I wouldn't.

I've gone out and played with injuries before. Hell, I went back into a game after I'd broken my finger. You know what happens, every time without fail? Either the injury gets worse or you put so much strain on other parts of your body that you wind up with a different injury altogether. It's never worth it.

[BigShaq34]

we can't answer this question because none of us know what its like playing pro ball at the highest level. We don't know what happens behind closed doors

[Sushimon]

Yes, as a competitor, absolutely. As a competitor you're mentally and emotionally programmed that way. It's what make you tick even if its not always the most logical thing to do. I bet if you ask any true competitor in anything, they undoubtedly say yes over and over again. This is why you have people and staff you trust. They are supposed to set you straight and think about whats best for you when all you want to do is compete and win.

Yes, Durant is a grown man that makes his own decisions, but this competitive drive is like a drug. You need level headed people that care about you to put their foot down and stop you, even if you would hate them for it.

[13th Man]

No, absolutely not. At the end of the day this is a business. The Warriors organization see him as an asset piece and will do anything for them to win. The fact that they pressured him, rushed him back, and removed the minutes restrictions for him shows that they don't care about him as a person, only as an asset. So why should KD do any different?

He has to do what's necessary to protect his asset value. The problem was that he took this personally and emotionally and so are many of you guys here. If he had taken it logically from a business POV, he would have done what Kawhi did and protected his stock value especially coming to the end of his contract.

[Ugly Duckling]

I don't think KD is the question here. It's the doctors. He only had one practice under his belt and it wasn't even a full one to my knowledge. After a month of sitting out due to at least a moderate calf strain, you need more than a half practice to get into NBA Finals game shape

[euroleague]

For sure I would play, although I wouldn’t in IT’s shoes. KD is already proven, he’s one of the elites to play the game. If he wants to go to the next level, he has to face adversity- exactly what he seemed afraid to do joining GSW.

Playing was the right move for his legacy - nobody wants a soft player who puts his own temporary health over the team’s championship do or die game. Would I have kept playing after it was obvious the leg wasn’t healed and the game was in control? That’s more questionable, I don’t know why he was playing so many minutes

[ATRAIN53]

It depends what the doctor told me. MY doctor, the one I trust.

Doc says - "If you play, you can destroy that achillies and you'll not be playing for a long time, like missing next year. you should not play."

I hear this - I'm insistent they put me in a cast/boot, push me around in a wheel chair and sit me prominently on the bench. I sit there and cheer my arse off for my team and make all the right quotes to the media.

That's the mistake they made - baiting/teasing us the last month he *could* play, Is *close*. The watchuign his teammates play hurt - the pressure and the doubt he felt everyone had about his is why he played.