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Serge Ibaka had no idea Kawhi Leonard was going to leave Toronto
"Were you trying to recruit Kawhi to come back during that time? Were you talking to him?" [Serge Ibaka]: "Yeah, man. I don’t like to talk about it, man." [Host]: "Me neither. But it pissed me off." [Serge Ibaka]: "Yeah... Yeah. I, um... I did— I even— I don’t think I even— I didn’t actually try to recruit him because I didn’t believe it. I thought he was going to stay. Yeah, he won. I didn’t believe he was gonna leave, you know? I was like — I didn’t think he was going to leave, actually. We just won the championship. We had a great team. He could take as many off-games as he wanted — the team was still going to win without him. So he got a lot of pressure, you know? Whenever we needed him in a game, he’d be there. And if he had an off-night, he had guys to help him. So I didn’t really think like, 'Ah, Kawhi is going to leave.' I was calm. I was relaxed. I was like, 'We just won. Who does that?'
"How many more championships do you think you guys win if Kawhi stays?" [Serge Ibaka]: "Bro, why are you asking this question? I think... I think at least two. I think about it every day. Ah, Kawhi... Kawhi... Kawhi... Two more. I think two more." [Host]: "You think two more?" [Serge Ibaka]: "Yeah, at least two more. If he didn’t leave — two more. Two more. Two more."
"What do you remember about the Kawhi shot then? Because you’re right under the—" [Serge Ibaka]: "I was like, man, that shot— honestly, the way we ran the play and I saw Joel guarding him... Yeah, he was chasing him. I didn’t believe that shot was going to go in— like, no way. I was like, 'Oh, maybe he’s just going to throw the ball up,' you know? And I was down, ready to go for the offensive rebound. Yeah. I was almost close to tipping the ball. I was like, 'Oh my God.'" [Host]: "Imagine if you did that. You wouldn’t be able to come back to Toronto." [Serge Ibaka]: "No. You can’t ever come back to Toronto. I think I would’ve even retired. I’d have had to retire, you know? If I touched that ball, I’d have to retire— because there’s no way you come back from that." [Host]: "Yeah. No way." [Serge Ibaka]: "When the ball was bouncing, I was ready to go. Ready to tip it off. Because you're always just looking to get the rebound, right? It’s like normal to you. Yeah. I was down— like I was ready to go. It’s normal. Because I feel like if there was a clear miss, I would’ve grabbed the rebound. I was by myself— nobody really wanted to push me. And then the ball kept bouncing. I’m like... okay, good. Thank God I didn’t touch the ball.
After a one-year deal with him, finally returning to Spain, Serge Ibaka will not continue his career with Real Madrid. The player has signed for one season with the Spanish champions; however, there’s no desire from the club to extend a new offer.
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Kevin Durant says Thunder weren't 'ready' after team's 2012 Finals run: They weren't ready for us to be yearly contenders
Durant sat down with NBA luminaries LeBron James and Steve Nash for an interview on the "Mind the Game" podcast, which released Part 1 of the two-part chat on Tuesday morning. Durant said he believes the Thunder's front office wasn't "ready," after the team's run to the 2012 Finals, which came before the now-unfortunate trade of James Harden (benefiting the Rockets). Durant didn't look back on the Thunder's Finals loss and the Harden trade with frustration. Instead, he still regrets a missed opportunity that set back a team that was on the rise. "We sped up the timeline. All of us. Each individual player, Serge [Ibaka], you didn't know, he came out of nowhere. He came out here being the best shot blocker in the league," Durant said. "I'm averaging 30 at 21 years old. Russell [Westbrook] was 22 years old as an All-Star, James [Harden] Sixth Man at 22, so we exceeded the timeline, so they wasn't ready for that. That's just my theory. I don't know exactly what Sam [Presti] was thinking or the owner, but my theory is that I don't think they were ready exactly for us to be contenders every year."
"Since we reached the finals, you're supposed to upgrade and fine-tune and make changes around," Durant said. "You can't just pull one of the key figures off the team and expect us to continue what we was doing. So I think they were kind of shocked at how fast, how good we got so fast and sometimes you get confused. On top of that, Sam Presti was probably what, 30-something years old? He was young. Everybody was young, trying to figure stuff out, trying to understand what this landscape was."
They’d lose in overtime of Game 6 of the 2014 West Finals, a series that might’ve been different had Serge Ibaka not strained his calf in the previous round. The following training camp, Kevin Durant (the reigning MVP) fractured his foot at the peak of his powers. Complications forced him to shut it down for the 2015 season. They climbed the mountain again in 2016, winning 55 games, eliminating the 67-win Spurs in the second round and pushing the 73-win Golden State Warriors to the brink. But then Klay Thompson struck them with a bolt of Game 6 lightning — the most infamous loss in the Durant era — and a blown 3-1 series lead became the bitter end to the contention era. Durant left for the Warriors a month later. That’s the long path and more tortured side of their history that, for some Thunder fans, followers and even employees, can be exorcised on Thursday night with one more win. But there are still 48 minutes before that can become reality.
Jorge Sierra: Giannis Antetokounmpo has passed Gary Payton and Derek Fisher in playoff scoring for No. 57 in NBA history. He moved ahead of Serge Ibaka and Dikembe Mutombo in rebounds for No. 54.
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Roster adjustments at Real Madrid will potentially extend to Serge Ibaka. The experienced big and Los Blancos are considering their options and might part ways, according to reports from multiple Spanish outlets, including Mundo Deportivo on Wednesday.
Rudy Gobert reacts to Luka Doncic trade to Lakers: The multiverse is real.
Serge Ibaka: Well, well, well… There are worst things in life than getting traded… At the end of the day Luka will still be playing basketball and playing for the Lakers!
Serge Ibaka: The interesting part will be seeing if Lebron’s influence will help Luka be in the best conditioning form of his life and for the rest of his career. Because of the way Lebron takes care of his body, Luka can learn from that a lot.
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