The Tale of KD
I don't think there was anyone in Chicago more excited than me when KD announced, a month after losing the 2016 Finals, that he was signing to the Warriors. I mean, I went absolutely nuts! I tagged all the Warriors haters that had trolled me incessantly for 30 straight days across ALL social media platforms, popped my collar and prepared to thee most shit-talking possible.
This was K damn D. The man can literally shoot over anybody. Who was really stopping the Warriors? Certainly not Lebron and the damn Cavs. The Dubs rolled right through the "competition" and the only playoff lost was some janky refs in game 4 (SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SWEEP *eyeroll*).
The entire time KD was a Warrior I defended him against the haters.
Cupcake...Snake...Soft...Mama's Boy (not really an insult, but...*shrugs*). I did begin to notice a change in behavior on the court though. More aggressive with refs, picking up way too many technical fouls/ejections and just overall becoming a "villain". I enjoyed the villain role because that told me that KD was accepting winning championships over being loved. But I shrugged if off, literally. Who cares as long as we were winning.
Warriors rolled right through 2017 and 2018 with two more championships. Warriors fans feeling good, right? But something just seemed amiss. NEVER could he commit publicly to the Warriors. The same team he had just won his only titles with, claimed he was brothers with and the team, in all honestly, that allowed him to become even better *insert GOAT talk*
I even went viral talking sh.. to CJ McCollum in the spirit of defending KD...
But 2018-2019 season just didn't seem right....
It was all good just a week ago..
Flashback, November 2018...
My son and I are watching a close game, obviously focused on the outcome and there is something going on by the bench. What the hell is going on? I was instantly mad at Draymond thinking "This is the reason he's going to leave". I was scared honestly. Wondering if I was watching the demise of my beloved Warriors. For the first time in a long time, I questioned the team. Even had the nerve to think maybe we should trade Draymond (Draymond, forgive me).
If my memory serves me correctly, Dubs had a 4/5 game losing streak as the team seemed to be having inner turmoil. Not my Warriors! But after some weeks had passed, I started paying more attention to KD and said damn, Draymond might have been right. KD was acting like he didn't want to be here. Everybody was an enemy....the media, 14 year old boys on Twitter, the shit was getting ridiculous.
Again, I bit my tongue because hey, he's on my team and we were winning and on our way to a three-peat. But something was off....I couldn't put my finger on it. The obvious answer was KD was leaving. Period. It didn't matter if they won a third title in five years. KD was GONE mentally. I argued people up and down that he would not leave...
Fast Forward, 2018 Playoffs, Rockets vs. Warriors series
Midgame.....KD goes down holding his ankle it appeared and those thoughts of dread entered again. Damn, smh. Warriors did what the Warriors do and persevered through the Rockets series and swept the Blazers in the WCFs. I cannot lie. Seeing the Warriors move the ball as they did pre-KD was beautiful and I missed it...
I still wanted to see him come back in the playoffs but I felt it was a preview of life without KD again. Mostly non-Warriors fans were ecstatic about this. C'est la vie.
Enter the 2018 Finals..
KD still out...Klay dealing with injury (before ACL tear)...Steph having off shooting games..not the best position to be in but Warriors are tough. I knew the second KD went down again, he was gone. Not just from the Finals but the Warriors. Honestly, that was a rough revelation to accept personally. Even with all his shit, I wanted him to stay in Oakland. But that was selfish of me because my team was starting to suffer from the distraction of dude (yes, he's just dude now).
Now dude is with the Nets with his best friend, Kyrie. Instead, of just going on with his new team, rehab, etc dude still lives in the past. Articles have come out with dude complaining about the OKC organization, the fans, the Warriors style of offense *insert huge eyeroll*. Come on, man. Cut it out. Please. Everything that's been said of dude, while on the Warriors, I defended but you know what? He's proving his critics right!
It's soft to argue with irrelevant people on social media trying to appear tough. It's soft bringing up old shit to cover for your own insecurities. It's soft to leave the best team in the NBA five straight years running because "you didn't feel loved". Dare I say Lebron would have NEVER (and he's Charmin soft) ....but I digress.
Kevin, if by chance you see this (because I now you scour social media for your name
*insert even larger eye roll*), you've already made an ill-advised career decision, how about focusing on your new team and teammates and stop entertaining the bullshit, ok?
That's my final word...