We don’t really know NBA stars
ESPN’s Pablo Torre provided my favorite response after Paul George’s decision to sign a long-term contract with the Thunder.
“I love Paul George returning to OKC for 3+1 years because it serves as an enduring reminder that we don’t actually know these dudes at all,” tweeted Torres.
That’s a lesson we know but don’t always remember. When we do, it serves us well.
Social media has partly penetrated the massive
wall between professional athletes and the public clamoring to know all it can about its heroes. But we in fact know little about these guys.
Kevin Durant seemed sure to stay. George seemed sure to leave. Wrong on both accounts.
The Kawhi Leonard case is the latest example.
The San Antonio superstar seemed to be the model Spur. Low-key. Unassuming. Nose to the Riverwalk. The guy drove an old truck, never said a word and played a rousing game of basketball on both ends of the court.
That’s what we thought we knew of Leonard. A
direct descendent of Tim Duncan, the stoic statesman around whom the Spurs built a dynasty. The Spurs won an NBA title with Leonard as their best player (2014), dang near won the year before as Leonard’s status rose and as recently as 14 months ago were a threat to Golden State.
The Spurs led the Warriors by 25 points in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals. Then Zaza Pachulia happened; he slipped into Leonard’s landing spot on a jumper, Leonard suffered an ankle sprain and the Warriors immediately went on an 18-0 run in Leonard’s absence. He never returned to the series, and the Warriors won easily in four games.
Seems a long time ago.
Leonard played only nine games last season, got crossways with the Spurs over his health status and got on the wrong side of venerable teammates who clearly questioned his commitment.
Leonard abdicated the throne that once held David Robinson and Duncan, pillars of the NBA’s version of the Patriots. San Antonio last week gave up on the idea of changing Leonard’s discontentment, trading him to the Toronto Raptors.
We thought Leonard was the perfect superstar. Now we think he’s a cad, the way he and his uncle Dennis Robertson have handled his exodus from San Antone. The truth probably is somewhere in the middle.
Sort of like Durant and his transition from the Thunder to the Warriors. Like I wrote two Julys ago. Durant isn’t who we thought he was, and that’s more on us than him.
But here’s a better example. Reggie Jackson.
Jackson was a quiet, low-key personality with a steel gaze through three Thunder seasons. Personable off the court. Fearless on the court. Unintimidated in the locker room. That third year, 2013-14, he blossomed into not only Russell Westbrook’s backup, but a fabulous sixth man.
Jackson seemed to be a franchise building block. Durant, Westbrook, the young center Steven Adams and Jackson.
Then Jackson declared
that off-season that he was ready to run his own team. Wait? What? Jackson declined to sign a contract extension that summer, rumors of roster tension built through the next season, both Durant and Westbrook dropped hints that they weren’t pleased at all with Jackson, and he was traded to Detroit in February 2015, a deal that brought Enes Kanter to OKC.
Was Jackson a lockerroom cancer? Was he ostracized for not capitulating to the Thunder’s established hierarchy? The truth probably was somewhere in the middle.
Player/franchise dissension and clubhouse turmoil have been invisible in the Thunder’s 10 NBA seasons. When it’s occurred, both parties
mostly have kept a lid on it.
Jackson let it slip out that he wasn’t content. Then Carmelo Anthony did the same last April. Jackson was traded inside nine months, Carmelo inside three.
The Thunder nips this stuff in the bud. Sam Presti learned it from the Spurs. But this just shows that any franchise can get burned. The franchises are like us. Sometimes, they don’t actually know these dudes at all.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel.