Kevin Durant Deserved Better.

Tonight, the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors are about to tip off for Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. Yesterday, Kevin Durant had surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon, and marked the occasion with an Instagram post met by sincere, heartfelt support from all corners. His news was something of a formality, as the internet had already spent the better part of 48 hours litigating and adjudicating blame for what we were all reasonably certain was in fact a ruptured Achilles.

A strange phenomenon occurs when an entire population is determined to avoid directly acknowledging something it knows to be true. Rather than thinking about the concrete specifics of Kevin Durant’s mangled lower leg, NBA Twitter had opted to quarrel with itself over a series of likely unanswerable questions about physiology, organizational psychology and culpability.

But before that, three nights ago, Kevin Durant was down, seated on the floor of the Scotiabank Arena, gripping his right heel. He was hurt, and all the context clues made it evident that he was hurt badly. Raptors fans initially cheered and waved sarcastic goodbyes, and then, chastened by appeals from players on both teams, chanted Durant’s name as he was helped off the court. Before that, though, he was back, and in the starting lineup, no less, dominating twelve of what were probably the fourteen most…