There is nothing remotely similar with Kyries trade request .... which was done in the off season and had a preexisting condition everyone was already aware of. He also wanted to leave for legacy issues and getting out of LBJ'S shadow. Kawhi is simply worried that he might have an injury linger into next season and ONLY cares about how this might theoretically affect his next big paycheck, while not not even trying to earn his current on,
So one “quit” due to ego, and the other due to the desire not to see his career shortened due to injury?
Kyrie did a bad thing, if you care about loyalty to one’s team. Kawhi potentially is doing a bad thing, too. It just doesn’t make sense to hold loyalty and honoring one’s contract as sacrosanct in one case, but not the other.
Sorry, but offering a false premise and then someone saying "Amen" to it, does nothing to make the statement correct. I also am not feeling the Kyrie hate coming from you guys either.
Kyrie never "quit" anything. He verbalized a desire for change in the off season, and backed that with the simple fact he needed surgery sooner rather than later, and that might eventually be a better route than playing his last year on a team that had already been shopping him, and a team he had no interest in playing for. He gave his franchise ample prewarning, a robust list of teams he would prefer to go to, and let management get on with getting the best deal they could get. By the end they got what most people considered a kings ransom for him.
He "quit" on Noone ... not a single game ... and after the trade muddled through 75% of the regular season on a bum wheel before he AND management decided to just get things fixed this year and be back 100% next year, when Hayward is hopefully back and the young ones ... get some seasoning this year.
There is no record of him quitting on anyone ... in Cleveland or Boston.
Kawhi on the other hand, QUIT. He received doctors clearance from what most people believe to be one of the most upright and professional organizations in professional sports.
He still quit.
Reportedly his teammates, some being legendary veterans in the twilight of their careers, begged him to play.
He still quit.
He quit through most of the regular seasons and apparently all the playoffs too.
Why?
He does not want to risk his potential supermax bonus .... and apparently this is the major issue.
Perhaps it was a blackmailing attempt to force the spurs hand on this. He took millions to not play and left his team, teammates, and paying fans in the lurch. Maybe he was just being extra cautious. But whatever it was ... he quit.
I don't want this self-entitled clown anywhere near Celtics Green, unless it is images of him still in black and getting posterized by JT and JB etc.
The Continued attempts to parallel this with Kyrie's desire for mobility and getting out of LBJs shadow (and get some real coaching) .... bear no comparison to Kawhi sabotage of his team.
I don't mean to sound so Cantankerous, I just find the comparison incredibly weak.
Game 3 cannot start soon enough .... tonight will be tough.