Lakers: Kevin Durant Got Some Tough Love From LA Legend After Tearing Achilles
When Brooklyn Nets All-NBA forward Kevin Durant was still playing for the Golden State Warriors, he infamously tore his Achilles tendon during the fifth game of the Dubs' 2019 NBA Finals series against the Toronto Raptors. Toronto would go on to win in six games.
Per Alex Schiffer of The Athletic, Durant revealed that a certain retired Los Angeles Lakers superstar shooting guard reached out to the 6'10" All-Star out of Texas after he incurred the ailment.
“Don’t be a f—— crybaby,” Bryant texted Durant. “It’s going to be all right. You’re going to come back and be who you are.”
Bryant, of course, tore his Achilles on April 20th, 2013 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter of the 80th game of LA's season. Even after the injury, Bryant took (and nailed) two free throws before departing for the team's locker room. After suffering the injury, Bryant was never quite the same, hounded by further lower-leg injuries and robbed of a lot of his lateral quickness.
Durant, however, seems to have made a pretty miraculous recovery, and is just as great as ever for Brooklyn -- when he's healthy, at least.
“When my mind was racing everywhere, it was good to hear from him,” Durant noted. “Especially him going through it later in his career.”
Durant is now 34 himself, and was looking like an MVP candidate with the Nets before suffering a (supposedly minor) MCL sprain earlier this week.
