How Kevin Bounced Back From His Achilles Injury | Boardroom Cover Story

17 years in the league, 16 years playing, because you missed an entire year for what? The craziest injury ever, which is never spoken about. I can say this. Yeah. And also, another year of your season where you missed 50 games, 60 games, with an injury that people didn't even realize. Well, I should have probably missed the whole season, really. You played like 12 games, or 18 games? 27. But if I would have did the last surgery we did, we did that first, then I would have missed the whole year. People don't realize that your Jones Fracture surgery was three surgeries for one injury. Your foot is so ******* different that. Oh man, and they were saying that's a career-threatening injury. Yeah. Because of the blood flow that goes to the bone, and it might not, all the way, it was a bunch of, you know how that ---- is. That was scary, bro. All of this ---- was scary, even when the Achilles, and it was like, man, you may get blood clots if you don't control certain. You were bugging from the blood clots. I was bugging, and all of that, because I felt like it was affecting my whole body, just my Achilles, because it's such a major ligament. You know what I'm saying? So, then that's what goes unnoticed when you talk about professional athletes, and how we deal with injuries. You know what I'm saying? And what it takes to really come out of that. And you was in it with me every day. Remember the first year in the Bay, you got hurt in D.C. We go to get an MRI, or an X-ray. They look at it, and they say that you're probably out for the year. Oh my gosh. You remember what happened? They told us that I was out for the year, and there's been a 30, 45 minute wait period before they called us back. So, imagine that, 30 to 45 minutes, we were in. Bro, tears. Yes. Because you had just left to go from Oklahoma City to the Bay. You were bumping, and if you got hurt, and they kept playing and winning, there was so much stress on you, there was so much bullshit that like, what, you're out for the year? Yeah, it was just, and it was devastating. It was totally devastating to the point where it was just flat out tears as soon as they said that. Because it's just like, come on, it can't play out this way. No. But then when we got the call, yeah, it'll tell you how bad DC traffic is. We still in the car, 45 minutes later, on the way to the hotel, and they called us and told us that it was a six week injury, four, six week injury, and just a bone bruise, and I was so relieved, and we almost celebrated. And I remember that next morning, Zaza was so, because Zaza the one that fell into my leg, he was so distraught. I felt so bad for him. It's like six or seven in the morning, he knocked on my door now, and he's just so apologizing so much. I felt so bad, but he didn't realize that like, yo, you didn't get that news we got. No, he straight up. And then get the other news we got. So I was like, I was excited at that time. So I was like, Zaza, man, it's all good. Good, good, I'll see you in the playoffs. I see you, hold it down for me. And that eased his mind too, and I love Zaza. That's one of my favorite teammates ever. And I love that he came and did that, but that just shows the emotional rollercoaster this league and being an NBA player, injury, all that stuff matters, bro. And not just me, people around me feel that too. Oh my, so you're Achilles, right? Let's just paint a picture for one second. You guys have won two championships in a row. You know, you're playing the Toronto Raptors. You're missing the first few games. There's a lot of buzz of whether you're gonna come back, and you call me, I'm in New York. It's right before game five. And you said to me, yo, get Mary Beth. We need the massage therapist to meet me in Toronto. I said, well, what's up? You're like, I'm gonna play. And bro, it was like more heroic than I think people even realized, to be fair. And I fly to Toronto, and no one knew you were playing, so I ended up being the only person there. It was like bad weather, and I come into town, and we're having that like, I felt like Don King and Mike Tyson. I remember I was talking to you. I was like, bro, this about to be that motherfucking moment. You're taking this series back. This is it. Then you was like, come on the team bus with me, bro. I'm like, hell yeah. I wore sweats, because I was like, I gotta be in the moment. So I wore warrior sweats. I got on the bus. I remember Draymond dapped me up. And I was, this was a bucket list moment for me. And then the ******* arena buzzing, Drake there. And what happened after that was honestly like a movie, a ******* movie. We're in the back with four doctors, Bob. The team's not even back, and no one can talk. And it's obvious you tore your Achilles. Do you remember that moment still? Like it was yesterday? Do you block that ---- out? No, I remember it. I remember it as a huge moment in my life, man. It's a life-changing moment. That's when I knew I was like, all right, I probably won't go back to the Bay again. There's 20,000 people in there. Durant goes down, holding his leg. And I heard a pop. And Durant grabbing that right leg. So I'm like, oh my gosh. And my whole basketball career just flashed before my eyes. Everything, everything I did, everything that I thought about, all my favorite moments, all my bad moments, it flashed. And that's why if you watch, I'm just sitting there gazing into the crowd before somebody came over to help me up. Because I'm just like, this ---- is over with. Like, I truly don't know what I'm about to be. And that's a nerve-wracking feeling when you don't know who you are. Kyle Lowry was trying to settle the crowd down. I seen Drake over there upset. And then as I was walking back, I knew for a fact that it was done. Because when I was walking, it felt like my foot was hanging but I was just walking on my heel and I couldn't feel anything else but my heel. And then as I went back to the locker room, they give you this test where I guess they squeeze on your calf to see if your foot will move. And my foot would move. And that's when every doctor knows that. And I remember the doctor did that and he was just looking around and just didn't say nothing. No one wanted to say ----. He just couldn't say nothing. And I was just like, ****, this is it. And this whole thing is just, this is the end of this whole thing. Yeah, it was just like, this is the end of this whole thing. Like, I didn't even, I had left to come on that road trip and I didn't even go back to the Bay after that to get my clothes or nothing. Y'all all did that for me. Went straight to New York, got surgery and was in New York since then. And it was such a, man, it was such a defining moment in my career, bro. You people don't realize the thoughts that I had as I was going through all of that ----. Cause you, it affects your human life at that point. You can't walk, you can't function like a regular human. You gotta learn how to walk again. On top of you trying to learn how to be an athlete again. You know what I'm saying? And it was just, man, it was tough. Just because I didn't know what the recovery's like, you just hear about it. You know, it's different when you go through it. So all I knew was just like, this is the toughest injury ever. It's gonna be hard to come back from. It's a seven, eight, it's a year process. Every day is tedious, that's all I kept hearing. So I'm just, and I knew I liked, and I knew I can grind out of rehab, but I'm just like, would that even help? You know what I'm saying? I know I get back, but will I really be the one that I was before? And that was what was stressing me out. Cause I didn't, I couldn't know until I start. And then my mind started to get at ease when I started playing pickup. When I started going against other players that were in the NBA. And I'm like, ooh, I can still drive past him. I can still shoot over this guy. There's certain stuff that I was missing out on my game that I had to build back up again. Like my range from deep. Like stopping on the dime, pulling up from deep. Like my fadeaways going right off my leg, pushing off this right leg. I felt like I had to build that stuff up and it was stressful, but I was like, I could still like, I still feel solid around the younger players in the league. So that's, when I started to test myself out, that's when I got better. And that's when my mind became more at ease. And then I started to realize like, oh, I can do this again. And then it happened over time. Like my first preseason game, I was like, okay. My first six, seven games in the league, I was playing all right. I was like, all right. Then my first playoff series, this is the highest intensity of basketball playing against the Milwaukee Bucks, a champion. I'm like, all right, it's the highest level of ball and I can play 48 minutes straight. All right, I'm back. That's when I finally realized like, all right, I'm all right.