The Golden State Warriors have been taking some harsh criticism for their decision to let Kevin Durant play in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night, a game in which Durant ultimately suffered what is believed to be a torn Achilles.
Count Durant's former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Kendrick Perkins among those who think the Warriors did Durant wrong, as Perkins took to Twitter to say that his former club would not have allowed the two-time Finals MVP to play:
I know 1 thing @okcthunder wouldn’t have let him play and wouldn’t have cared what KD wanted to do!
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) June 11, 2019
Obviously, Perkins is simply feeling for his friend, which is completely understandable, but it doesn't seem all that right to assign blame to any parties for what happened on Monday evening, especially when it was clear that Warriors general manager Bob Myers felt guilty enough during his tearful postgame press conference after the Warriors' Game 5 win.
Durant originally sustained a strained calf during Game 5 of Golden State's second-round playoff playoff series against the Houston Rockets and went on to miss Game 6 of that series. He then proceeded to miss the entire Western Conference Finals, where the Dubs swept the Portland Trail Blazers en route to their fifth straight finals appearance.
The 30-year-old would then go on to miss the first four games of the finals as the Warriors fell behind 3-1 to a determined, Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors team. With it being blatantly obvious that Golden State desperately needed Durant to return, Durant decided to give it a go in Game 5 and scored 11 points in the first quarter before suffering the Achilles injury in the second period.
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