By now you probably know all about Kevin Durant and his uses of social media over the years.
You know about the burner accounts he’s used to stand up for himself against haters, the Twitter fights he’s gotten into with former teammates, and the smart discussions about the game of basketball he’s had with people he’s never met.
Now the two-time NBA Finals MVP is even helping ease the minds of strangers who have suffered an injury like his and are concerned about their own future.
Durant did just that on Monday when he replied to a fella who tore his Achilles and is undergoing reconstruction surgery in a few weeks. This guy asked KD how much pain he was in after the procedure and KD responded, with, “You’ll be aight. Just a lil pinch of pain.”
How great is that?
The guy replied to KD, saying he helped ease his nerves and that he’s now ready to get this surgery done and get on the road to recovery.
And with that we saw how great social media can be – a fan and a legendary player just talking human to human, offering their support before going on with their days.
Far too often Twitter is an awful place were strangers say awful things to athletes. Players sometimes respond accordingly, and all the hate just keeps going and going.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but there’s some crazy things going on the world and the more moments we can have like this one between KD and a fan, the better off we’ll be. The more times we all treat each other with respect and kindness, the better we’ll be. Because man, there’s not a ton of that going around these days.
There are other athletes in the sports world right now who also have a fun time with social media – like PGA Tour golfer Max Homa, who has gone viral for hilariously breaking down the swings of fans who want to be roasted by a pro. Homa is also very good at making fun of himself when he does something embarrassing during a tournament – like almost hit a cameraman with an amazing shank in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Hopefully the awful tweets don’t steer athletes like KD, Homa and others who like to have fun away from a medium that can actually be used in a fun way to connect stars with average Joes who are going through some things.
Don’t go chasing these athletes away!
Next time you’re thinking of tweeting something awful at an athlete (or anyone!) erase it and tweet something nice or funny instead.
See what that does to you.
And see what it does to them.
College basketball questions… Answered!
Are you like me and have watched very little college hoops this season and don’t even know who the best player is, let alone which teams you should be looking to pick when you fill out your brackets next week? Well, my pal Andrew Joseph lives for college hoops (he went to Kansas) and breaks down five key topics that will help get you up to speed.
Quick hits: NFL free agents to avoid… Ranking NFL logos… And more!
– Steven Ruiz has five big-name NFL free agents that teams should avoid, including Jadeveon Clowney.
– With the LA Rams’ new logo supposedly leaking over the weekend, Charles Curtis ranks all the NFL logos.
– The Sacramento Kings broadcast caught a fan giving head coach Luke Walton a ton of grief about Buddy Hield.
– Charles Curtis has 9 sleeper pitchers fantasy baseball owners should target in 2020 drafts.
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