Steph, Klay and Dray should be saluted, but they’re not!

Fans of the NBA have been longing for the good old days where players were faithful and stayed their whole career with the same franchise. The Golden State Warriors are the villains keeping that ideology around.

In the movie “The Royal Tenenbaums” from 2001 Gene Hackmann plays with his kids. Two teams of “soldiers” are fighting each other when the dad (Hackmann) starts firing upon his own.

His son turns and says: “But dad, we’re on the same team”.

Hackmann  – lying on the roof of the house – responds: “There are no teams”!

A lot of NBA fans have emotional rollercoaster rides every year. How does the team look next year? Just look at Toronto Raptors or the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Kevin Durant took a lot of heat for going to Golden State Warriors. LeBron did the same back in the Heat-days.

At the same time, people have saluted the old heroes like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson – players who gave their athletic life to one city and only one NBA franchise.

But where is the joy and salutation from fans all over the league now that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – the core of the Warriors – have secured a faithful Trinity?

Why are Steph, Klay and Draymond not saluted in media and fan-forums like Damian Lillard was when he re-signed with Portland?

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Is it because there’s still an enormous amount of jealousy regarding the Warriors and the fact that they had such a powerful team? Are you a bigger hero just because you’re balling for a team that’s barely making a run for the playoffs season after season?

Maybe fans will salute the three Warriors musketeers over time, but in a league where you have no clue what’s in store next year, it is peculiar that there is so little faithful fan-love for the Warriors core.

But fan-love is based on certain things.

Americans are hard working people, and to obtain the American dream, there are tons of obstacles. The Warriors have a narrative sticking to them – it’s always looked too easy. And they had three…no wait four…no wait five All-Star players.

The jealousy was there even before Durant. Steph, Dray and Klay made it all look so easy – and they beat LeBron in 2015. There was no suffering. These guys were all smiles.

The attitude has been a focus point from the beginning of the winning. But what’s wrong with being happy and enjoying the game of basketball?

Well, it conflicts with the origin of most players upbringing. Basketball is very much associated with a tough, masculine and alpha male attitude. A lot of guys playing in the NBA come from small conditions and have worked their way up through tough and unforgiving courts.

And then the Warriors enter the league looking like everything’s just for the fun of it!

The respect for Steph, Klay and Dray should be there. As Draymond put it in an interview with Rachel Nichols from The Jump:

“I got two guys that I’ve been rolling with since the time I stepped into this league. And that’s Steph and Klay. We started this whole Golden State thing when it wasn’t so sexy. Why would I get to this point where we had built this entire organization up and then bail on it? You don’t bail on your baby – you know the Golden State – that’s our baby!”

These three guys are faithful players who live up to the perfect NBA narrative. They will probably be Warriors for life.

And that should be saluted!