"It's fine, next question ! " and he hasn't played since. Put that together with what happened previously and you have to work damn hard to not believe this is heading down that same path. This is the guy who didn't return a call from the Admiral. How many times did we see, dnp - old and how much did Pop and the staff rest the trio, especially Timmy. They took an L in the first round of the playoffs rather than risk Timmy's health and career. And an adult playing hide and seek ? Is that cat for real ? Clearly, he's got some serious issues and they didn't go away.
Why would he say, "It's fine, next question " ? The only thing I can figure is that this is what the medical staff told him ; they told him that he was fine. He didn't really feel that way, but thought that it might improve. However, it doesn't feel quite right. So, he doesn't trust the medical staff again and won't play. On the other hand, there's no mri or anything else showing something serious or something that he could worsen by playing which is what the Clip's medical staff is telling him. He won't play unless he feels near perfect. And this was always going to be a bad ending to the season for him. Normally, you assume the best players for teams will be healthy and the best teams are going to win. You acknowledge that there could be an exception or two, but only 1 or 2 teams who are legitimate contenders will lose a star. But the NBA made some really bad decisions in order to try to generate extra revenue. They cut the break to 2 months. They packed the schedule and picked a really bad year to do that. The best players have to play major minutes down the stretch and they have to carry the team. Joel Embiid, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Doncic, and the rest. Now injuries are the main reason a team wins or loses. And we're stuck with Chris Paul and Devin Booker for the Suns against the Bucks with Antetokounmpo and Middleton. If the Lakers were healthy, they might not have been the favorites, but they had a reasonable chance of competing for the le. The Nets might have been the favorites with the three stars and Joe Harris playing well together. They were a lot more efficient than I ever believed (Kyrie had 50-40-90 season and Harden wasn't in the low 40s). Philly had the number one seed and Embiid was playing great. Simmons can't hit outside of the paint, but they have shooters and a great defense. Then, the Clippers with a healthy PG13 and Kawhi who was playing out of his mind would have had a realistic chance at winning as well. Doncic nearly carried the mavs despite his injury. Those were the best teams, the teams, all things being equal, which had the best chances of winning. And they all went out. Chris Paul despite his playoff history is the best point guard in this era after Nash's exit and Booker is a very good player. Still, is this the best team in the West ? Not at all. The Lakers and Clippers were both better. Brooklyn had to be the le favorites if they were healthy perhaps followed by Philadelphia . So, we've arguably got the third best team in each conference likely to meet in the Finals.
And a season that for outside reasons had lots of injuries would inevitably catch up with Kawhi. This problem is likely to only exacerbate with Kawhi . Each time he has an injury, he is going to become su ious of the medical staff if everything doesn't seem to go according to his expectations and / or he doesn't feel quite right. It could become a cycle and a mental issue with him if it isn't already. And, truthfully, that's a shame because he really has worked extremely hard on his game to become one of the very, very best players in the entire league. He was having an incredible post-season.
I don't wish him ill despite how he screwed over the Spurs. However, it looks like he has enough issues all on his own and those are going to plague an otherwise brilliant career.