I just hope you all appreciated them while they were at the height of their powers.
I’m not a big fan of the NBA.
Really, I haven’t been a fan for quite some time (and apparently I’m not alone).
However, it has not always been this way. I was a diehard Miami Heat fan in my younger years and remember exactly where I was when LeBron James announced he was “taking his talents to South Beach.”
But recently—probably right around COVID—I haven’t had much desire to watch NBA basketball.
I don’t even hate it, I just don’t care; I don’t care.
For some reason, though, I watched the clips from Friday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns and I could feel myself getting a little emotional.
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To see three figures who have been so prominent in the NBA for the last decade in Steph Curry, Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr embrace what might be the last time was a bit of a gut punch.
When I was younger, I hated players like Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady because they were all-time greats who didn’t play on my team.
It infuriated me to see players who played on teams I didn’t root for succeed and even hinder my own teams’ luck.
But I once had a family friend tell me that I should appreciate watching guys like Brady and Bryant play because I would miss them when they stopped playing.
I didn’t listen to him at the time because I was a stupid kid who thought I knew everything, but he was spot on.
I often find myself watching Kobe highlights late at night when I’m bored or can’t fall asleep, which would be seen as an act of outright betrayal of my 17-year-old self, but I digress.
It feels much the same for the Splash Brothers era of the Golden State Warriors.
It already felt like the crew was on life support thanks to their last several seasons ending in April and one of said Splash Bros (Klay Thompson) being shipped off to Dallas, this 24-second clip feels like watching the end of an NBA era in real time.
What makes it even more heartbreaking is hearing and reading what Kerr said to his two most loyal soldiers as the game clock wound down.
I understand that. Steph was annoying the way he chewed his mouthguard and threw his stupid celebrations before the ball went in.
Draymond was a villain who probably had as many kicked the wallet to his name while making All-Defensive team selections.
And Kerr, perhaps the most insufferable of them all, couldn’t go more than a week without it inject his coastal elitist political views into a press conference to a game where grown men get paid nine figures to throw an orange ball into a hoop.
But I still feel a strange longing for their era of dominance.
Maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome. I don’t know.
Whatever it is (probably nostalgia), I know I will miss watching these guys play basketball.
From the road Curry revolutionized the game with his ability to warp the dimensions of the court and hit shots from anywhere, until their 73-9 season broke the record for most regular season wins, the 2010s Warriors have earned their place in NBA history.
I just hope you all appreciated them while they were at the height of their powers.
You didn’t have to like them. Hell, you probably hated them at one point.
But you have to respect them.
