I’m not a big fan of the NBA.
Really, I haven’t been a fan in quite some time (and apparently, I’m not alone).
It wasn’t always that way, though. 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 of a craving to watch NBA basketball.
I don’t even hate it, I’m just indifferent; I don’t care.
For some reason, though, I watched the clips from Friday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, and I could feel myself getting just a touch emotional.
Seeing three figures that have been so prominent in the NBA for the last decade in Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and head coach Steve Kerr embrace for what is perhaps the final time was a little bit of a gut punch.
When I was younger, I hated players like Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady, because they were all-time great players who didn’t play on my team.
It infuriated me to see players that played on teams I didn’t root for have success and even impede the good fortunes of my own teams.
However, I once had a family friend tell me that I should cherish 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 dumb 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 I can’t fall asleep, which would be seen as an act of outright betrayal to 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 past several seasons ending in April and one of said Splash Bros (Klay Thompson) being shipped off to Dallas, but 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 was saying to his two most loyal soldiers as the game clock wound down.
I get it. Steph was annoying the way he would chew his mouthguard and hit his stupid celebrations before the ball went in.
Draymond was a scumbag who probably had as many kicked scrotums to his name as he does All-Defensive team selections.
And Kerr, who is perhaps the most insufferable of them all, couldn’t go more than a week without injecting his coastal elitist political leanings into a press conference for a game where grown men get paid nine-figures to throw an orange ball into a hoop.
But I still feel some weird longing towards their era of dominance.
Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome. I don’t know.
Whatever it is, though (likely nostalgia), I know I will miss watching these guys play basketball.
From the way Curry revolutionized the game with his ability to warp the dimensions of the court and hit shots from anywhere, to their 73-9 season breaking the record for most regular season wins, the 2010s Warriors have earned their place in the history of the NBA.
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 likely hated them at some point.
But you have to respect them.
