Making the sacrifice
The thought of giving up $63 million is mind-boggling, but the thought of playing ball under duress is probably even worse. So I guess Andrei Kirilenko must be in a situation that warrants this kind of move. The game should be fun and it should be something you look forward to doing. NBA players are highly-skilled professional athletes that have usually spent a great deal of their lives training for it. Yes, $63 million is a whole lot of money and most would not even think about giving it back once it’s theirs… But this takes me back to that thing called sacrifice. And in life, it is going to come up here and there. It must be chosen or not.
Doug was injured and needed surgery one and a half years ago and finally had it done, but only after he made the decision to sacrifice playing to go under the knife. He knew it would be a very long road back and now he is ready to go. The lesson here is this… All that glitters ain’t gold, so sometimes even in pro sports you have to make a decision to do what’s in the best interest of everyone involved – even if it means giving up the money.
This year in the NBA is sure to bring lots of surprises. There have been some really big moves over the summer – KG to Boston, the Rockets getting Doug’s former coach Rick Adelman and Steve Francis, Grant Hill to Phoenix… The sad thing is all this has been overshadowed greatly by the referee gambling scandal. I can’t help but ask myself… Back in the day when my husband played for the Sacramento Kings and they lost to the Lakers, was the game compromised? Well, I will just let sleeping dogs lie and think positive thoughts about David Stern and the NBA.