Kevin Durant can get a bad rap sometimes from basketball fans (myself included), but this is just the best story you're going to hear.
Durant, who tore his Achilles when he was with the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals vs. the Raptors, was watching the Elite Eight matchup between Villanova and Houston when Villanova's Justin Moore came up lame late in the game. Moore had also torn his Achilles.
In an effort to try and get some insight into the Achilles recovery process, Nova head coach Jay Wright reached out to Durant - the two have a relationship through USA Basketball - and Durant went above and beyond.
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Here's how things went down, in Wright's words:
"I called Sean Ford at USA Basketball to get Kevin's number, and I texted Kevin. He called me, and Kevin said, 'I was watching that and it looked just like mine. I knew it when he went down. It looked just like mine.'
"So we talked for a while about it, and what was so impressive to me was he said, 'I'd like to talk to him. I'll talk to his parents about the process.' He listed himself, Klay Thompson, couple other guys. He goes, 'Look, these guys had it in the NBA and people in the NBA know now that you can come back from that. Earlier, before me, when that happened to you NBA people thought you were done. But so many people have come back from that now, I want him to know he's not done and that NBA people know that, too.'
"We talked about the process, coming back. He said, 'I'll explain it to him, any time thorugh his process he wants to use me I'll do it for him.' I said great. I gave him Justin's number and he FaceTimed Justin. They had a great talk. Justin said it was just really comforting to know, and to know he's got him as kind of an advisor on his way through this."
NBA
Man, what an incredible gesture by Durant.
He could've simply reached out and sent Moore his condolences and it would've been a cool move. But Durant promising Moore that he'll be there for him along his journey back from this injury? That's tremendous.
Here's hoping Moore comes back stronger and better than ever, and soon.
Villanova plays Kansas in the Final Four on Saturday.