Twitter ➤ @krayallen Instagram ➤ @basketballpoet
Written & Directed by: KlayAllen
Edited by: @tdottharapper
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Music by:
Cormill
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Yung Lando
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Polo G - Through Da Storm (Instrumental)
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What pushed KD to suit up for Game 5, only to go down with one of the worst injuries in sports. What made him risk his entire career, millions of dollars on the free agent market this offseason, and his long-term sustained health? Is there really someone to blame within the Warriors organization, a doctor.. a coach? Or is the reason more nuanced than that.. is there a different pressure that's been weighing on him for some time now that finally broke through?
The inescapable reality is that KD will always be an outsider to this group. Nothing that he does in an effort to integrate himself will ever be enough to erase that ever-residing elephant in the room. You did not have what it took to beat us in a 7-game series & then turned around & became a part of what we were building here instead. You could blame it on the system in OKC, the dynamic between you and russell westbrook, you could prove you’re the most talented player in Golden State, nothing will change that reality. In fact the level of greatness he possesses is what creates most, if not all, of the complications. It’s different when you’re a bench player that’s had to struggle with their own version of adversity being brought into the organization. Be it JaVale McGee & the reputation he’d built for himself or Shaun Livingston and a near career ending injury. Or even someone who’s held that same superstar status in DeMarcus ( Boogie ) Cousins, but who also had his own near-career-death experience. It’s much easier to come into this type of culture & simply fall into the system, reaping the benefits of the talent, becoming one component in a larger machine, devoting yourself to something bigger than you individually. But when you’re already as accomplished as KD prior to joining the team, Dray said it best, he's not there to fit in, he's there to stand out. It’s not about your teammates attitudes towards you. It’s your internal sense of identity. Golden State’s core can be as accepting of KD as they possibly could be. Steph Curry can be as willing to share the spotlight (MVP, Finals MVP, stats, records) as he possibly could be. But that reality will still exist. There’s nothing that could be done that’d remove Steph Curry as the face of this franchise or the group of Steph, Klay, Draymond, Andre Iguodala & Steve Kerr as the founders of this dynasty. KD was welcomed with open arms, but this is their team.
Point is, KD did not come up out the trenches with this group. He was not doubted as an NBA Draft prospect & then as a collective team later on. That is what truly solidified those bonds within that core, and nothing can ever do will erase the fact that he joined the team after the fact. Or is there? GS is now back in the trenches. True underdogs again. Initially, I thought if KD were to come back game 5 & if GSW were able to somehow battle back from 3-1 & win this 3-peat championship.. KD would finally freed of his role as “outsider”. But now.. that display that KD put on, putting the greater good of this dynasty above his own personal health, risking the final years of his career, risking millions as a free agent. All to stand in solidarity with his teammates. What more can one do than that? Sustaining the worst injury in all of sports for the team. An achilles injury that could end his entire career as we know it or, at the very least, completely change it. KD may never be KD again. Those few minutes of action in Game 5 may have been the final moments we see of super star all-time great hall-of-fame level Kevin Durant. He did the for his brothers.
The only issue is,it may be too little too late. Kevin Durant may be out the door regardless, leaving in search of a new image. As soon as he’d finally accomplished perhaps the true reason he’d come to Golden State. Finding a brotherhood that feeds off each other, grows as one, sets aside egos for one another, sacrifices for one another and accomplishes greatness together, as a unit.. If you call him “sensitive”, if you say he “cares too much about what people think of him”.. you can’t then turn around and follow that up with the statement that KD is this “super-villain” character. If you pay attention to what KD has shown us over the years, this is all he truly wanted to find in Golden State. Sure, he wanted to win. But I think what really attracted him to golden state specifically was this culture. A culture that had been rapidly slipping away over the past couple seasons but now, whether they win or lose, Golden State will once again truly be a brotherhood.
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