In every sport, everyone is playing for the playoffs. The goal is to make it to the postseason so that you have a shot at winning a title. In the NBA, players and teams alike are dead set on winning championships nowadays, which makes the playoffs of the utmost importance.
Shane Battier reached the top of the mountain twice during his career in the NBA, and he's upset to see so many players in the league now missing playoff games. That led him to take aim at these players who can't find their way on the court for the biggest games of the season.
Shane Battier blasts the current generation of NBA players
Battier made it to the playoffs in ten of his 13 seasons, and he never took the opportunity he found himself in for granted. He did whatever he could to suit up for postseason contests, but he doesn't see that same mentality with today's players.
Injuries marred the 2024 NBA Playoffs, but there were some cases where it felt like guys should have been on the court. Battier called out players who aren't doing whatever they can to play in the playoffs, saying he would lose sleep if he missed games for the same reason.
Related: Shane Battier recalls his "Touch the people" speech that prompted Heat's 27-game winning streak: "The beer was free and cold"
"There's nothing that I could think of that would be worse, even losing a game, than letting my teammates down," Shane Battier said on The OGs . "Knowing that I could go and I'm not there for my teammates, literally, I would not be able to sleep. That was the most important thing to me as part of a team. You put so much work in to get to the playoffs; that's why you play…You gotta do what you can do to get on the floor in the playoffs. Come on."
Is Shane Battier right to call out these players?
This is a pretty bold take from Battier, who seems to believe that players in the NBA don't have the same desire to play through injuries that his generation had. Injuries happen, but in some cases, it's fair to wonder if there's more to the situation than meets the eye.
This isn't to say that players are lying about their injuries, but are there instances where they hold themselves out of a game in order to give themselves more time to heal? Probably, but doing so in the playoffs is a completely different situation if you ask Battier.
In some ways, he's right. Your team's season is on the line, so it's reasonable to do whatever you can to play. Damian Lillard suiting up for the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 of their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers is an example of what Battier is looking for.
Of course, the Bucks lost that game even with Lillard, so who's to say these players would even have an impact? These players are intent on protecting their health, and despite Battier's pleas, that likely isn't going to change just because of the playoffs.
Related: Shane Battier recalls when Gary Payton confronted Hubie Brown: "Hope you brought a lunch pack Jack, it's gonna be a long day"
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