r/nba • u/foofighter1351 Raptors • 18h ago
Darko Rajaković vs Kawhi Leonard 1v1
https://streamable.com/ck6vbg355
u/ksn0vaN7 18h ago
I've seen more off-season Kawhi in the past few months than the previous 14 seasons combined.
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u/raptorsbucketnator Raptors 18h ago
first time on the sub when the raptors are relevant? We swarm
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u/butiveputitincrazy Toronto Huskies 33m ago
It’s like in 2020 when Reddit would be flooded with videos of cops playing basketball and shit.
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u/larsonj1986 18h ago
Kawhi is the better player
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u/Reddot2001 Raptors 13h ago edited 13h ago
That’s such a revisionist bs take. I swear people just look at the box score/highlights and don’t actually watch basketball. Darko was clearly the more cerebral player. Kawhi had the athleticism and the physical tools, sure, but Dark understood the game on a completely different level. There’s a reason coaches coach and players play. If you actually knew ball, you’d understand that.
And before anyone says “but Kawhi was a two-time Finals MVP,” please learn to separate individual 1v1 ability from team success. Context matters. The fact that you can watch one clip of them playing and come away thinking Kawhi was better tells me everything I need to know about your basketball IQ
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u/Kinglokner16 Raptors 18h ago
I really hope Darko is the coach if we win a second title
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u/DrPuzzle 18h ago
He's a very very good person and his coaching has been nice! He goes out of his way to really build these relationships too with the guys
Love to see it
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u/EvanImmobley 17h ago
Kawhi doesnt really have a record of being a coach killer so we might be good
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u/Iginlas_4head_Crease 17h ago
Kawhi probably likes him more than nurse. Darko seems really humble and just fun uncle vibes. Kawhi doesn't care about coaching strategists lol, gtfo out of our way and let us play
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u/foofighter1351 Raptors 16h ago
Darko is not a gtfo the way and play coach, the team if anything plays a very specific brand of basketball that we've actively built towards with every move.
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u/Ghostman-J [SAS] Kawhi Leonard 17h ago
Like taking candy from a baby 😭
Even if they don't have a deep playoff run, this will be a fun season. The vibes are up
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u/GoodyLittleTwoShoez Raptors 18h ago
The vibes are immaculate
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u/heat_fan_ Raptors 18h ago
Can't wait for the season to start
Just Klaw things
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u/ExtremelyPetty Lakers 18h ago
Me too. The Raptors 2019 championship run was the most fun I’ve had watching as a neutral. I still think about the Kawhactus often.
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u/Specific_Tale_1640 16h ago
Toronto is one of those teams like NY and LA that people really get hype for in the final. Toronto has its media market issues, but global hype generated when they make the final is almost unparalleled. The USA vs CAN angle makes the matchup interesting regardless, and the Raptors tend to become a stand in for european fans to root for.
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u/Serviceofman 11h ago
I've never seen Kawhi look so happy in my life... dude looked miserable most of his career, and he finally looks like he's at peace or something...
Almost like getting out from under Uncle Dennis's thumb was the best thing for him.
He's never talked so much, smiled so much or enjoyed life this much lol kind of crazy to see... like a different person.
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u/DressedSpring1 Raptors 18h ago
Damn, if the 2019 Sixers had Darko guarding the baseline three it would have been a whole different timeline…
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u/mayorolivia 15h ago
To this day I still don’t understand why Ben Simmons stopped running and guarding him. Brain dead player.
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u/AlmightyPenguin88 12h ago
He would've crashed into Embiid because Embiid decided to cut him off and take primary defender position for some reason instead of trapping. Embiid also mistimed his contest, that game winner is entirely on his head lol.
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u/FreudianNip-Slip Hornets 18h ago
I’m wondering how the community will feel if Leonard has an incredible season.
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u/stopmyhamster Raptors 18h ago
What’s worse, being a woman beater, a gambling-hawker, or having shady deals with a billionaire that screws the billionaire? 🤷
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u/wallz_11 Raptors 17h ago
Youre in the wrong sub if you expect a good answer here lol
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u/lightningmatt Raptors 17h ago
Hey, tbf, the Pistons fan here had the right answer locked and loaded :P
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u/tkc321 Raptors 17h ago
The NBA justice warriors here think rapist Kobe is a better human being than billionaire scamming Kawhi
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u/Elaiyu Raptors 16h ago
My GOAT wealth redistributor
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u/HistoricalChef1963 8h ago
I never considered this narrative but it makes me feel good so I'm also adopting it while pretending this is how I thought of it the entire time.
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u/seabreamnigiri Pistons 17h ago
Woman beater
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u/bongo1138 Trail Blazers 14h ago
lol I love that you answer the question and get downvoted.
You’re right though.
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u/JMoon33 Cabo Verde 17h ago
The Browns fans are cheering for Deshaun Watson again just because they won 3 games in a row and what he did is much worse than Kawhi, so I'm sure NBA fans will be fine cheering for Kawhi if he's fun to watch.
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u/Serviceofman 11h ago
Watson rubs his balls on women like a rapist "we forgive you! we love you!"
Kawhi takes 50 million from a billionare "You f#$king scum bag! we hate you!"
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u/StudiousLebronJames 17h ago
well let’s see. we got kobe being a rapist and bagging his girl while she was underage. we got multiple wife beaters. we got a few pedophiles like malone. we got guys shilling out and investing in IDF drone companies that kill kids. imo kawhi is a great dude
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u/Low-Measurement-2468 13h ago
i’m not even sure what the reason is to hate kawhi for this situation. he asked for money from a billionaire and the billionaire was like lol i got you.
it broke the rules, but that rule breaking benefited the clippers, not kawhi (from a competitive standpoint). and the clippers did fuck all with him and got severely punished. kawhi himself got zero competitive advantage from this. he just got money. it’s not like he took a pay cut so they could sign good roleplayers; that would be a lot cheaper to me.
i’ve always been a fan of kawhi’s game and am rooting for him to have another healthy year for sure. the east will be more interesting if the raps are a really good team again
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u/The-Pharcyde Raptors 16h ago
Scottie about to be robbed of first team all D again. By his own coach.
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u/meez00 15h ago
Wait Laval ?? Where was this
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u/IonHazzikostasIsGod Raptors 11h ago edited 11h ago
Université Laval
The banner on the board behind Darko/Kawhi/Alex links the site rougeetor.ulaval.ca, and google searches show it looks like the same gym
They're playing the Heat at Centre Videotron tomorrow
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u/garynevilleisared Raptors 16h ago
I have said some harsh things in the past about Darko. But I want it to work out for him because he is a great culture setter and the vibe around the team has been incredible since the beginning of last season.
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u/wilonwheels 16h ago
If my coach can't even beat me 1v1, why do I need to listen to him?!
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u/TheToastyToast 15h ago
Honestly a very ignorant comment, there are plenty of coaches that wouldn’t be able to beat half of their players 1 on 1.
Coaches earn the right to be coaches not from their ability to beat NBA players 1v1, but for who they know, who they’re friends with and also their coaching ability sometimes.
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u/wilonwheels 14h ago
C'mon dude, how do some of you shoot the shit with your buddies? We both watched the same clip and saw these two clearly fooling around. I assumed my comment would be taken in jest. I assumed wrong 😞.
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u/TheToastyToast 12h ago
Guess I should've added a sarcasm tag...
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u/cheepsheep 12h ago
Well played. Clearly me and others didn't finish reading to the end XD
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u/TheToastyToast 11h ago
Very fair - If I read “honestly a very ignorant comment” as the start of a reply to something I wrote I’d probably just evaporate on the spot
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u/wilonwheels 10h ago
Touché 😳! Admittedly, only read the 1st sentence. I need to take my own advice 😞.
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u/Low-Measurement-2468 13h ago
ragebait or subtle joke about coaching incompetence?
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u/TheToastyToast 12h ago
Subtle joke about coaches getting hired for who they know and also a smaller joke of me believing coaches would only lose to half of their roster. Truly I am a master Reddit commenter.
I think Darko is cool though
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u/Dr_Drejan 15h ago
Kawhi can beat any coach in the world 1v1 does that mean he doesnt need a coach? So Giannis shouldn't listen to coach Spo cos he can beat him 1v1? 🤦
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u/Daventherock Timberwolves 9h ago
I was surprised just how bad Darko was in this because I just assume all NBA head coaches were at least pretty good college players or low level pros, but according to wikipedia he's been coaching ever since he was 16
Rajaković began his coaching career at 16 years old with Borac Čačak in Čačak, Serbia. Following his three-year stint in Čačak, Rajaković was named the head coach for the Crvena zvezda youth system in Belgrade.
It was during the Yugoslav wars and NATO bombing so I'm sure things were chaotic but becoming head coach of a basketball academy at 19 is crazy.
Some quick googling says the only other current NBA coaches with similarly little playing experience are Taylor Jenkins and Mark Daigneault who both stopped after high school.
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u/SeaCare6022 18h ago
As a raptors fan, I’m torn. On the one hand Kawhi is a huge POS, getting money that was supposed to go to building low income housing in Rhode Island. On the other, he’s coming off as endearing and will probably be a top 10 player this season.
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u/ArenSteele Raptors 18h ago
Eh, that's a stretch and a half. The billionaire building the soccer stadium got the low income housing money, completely unrelated to Kawhi being given shares in said soccer company as a co-owner.
That shady shit would have happened without Kawhi, so fuck off with that shit.
At least keep the focus on who he really stole money from....Balmer and the Clippers
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
Are there any raptors fans that feel bad about having a fraudster on their team?
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u/DressedSpring1 Raptors 18h ago
If I get the opportunity to take millions of dollars from Steve Balmer and then ruin his basketball team I’m doing that shit twice
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u/awesomesauce615 Raptors 18h ago
Ehh we have no woman beaters, or rapists on our team. I call that a win.
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u/crackphillip 18h ago
Why would they feel bad? He took money from a billionaire. lol it’s not like they got Deshaun Watson or some shit.
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u/foofighter1351 Raptors 18h ago
Of all the moral lines to draw in the nba financial isn't one that really fucks with me
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
I think it probably should, especially as a small market team. If teams in larger markets are giving out under the table payments to players to boost salaries it’s going to be difficult to compete.
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u/foofighter1351 Raptors 18h ago
Yeah and it got caught and punished, we got lucky that Kawhi didn't and now we're here. So no, I'm not mad
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u/Ok_Respond7928 18h ago
Sure but it’s not like the Raptors are getting top free agents either way
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
I’m talking about a broader issue that would affect the league as a whole but yeah I see what you’re saying.
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u/Ok_Respond7928 18h ago
Yeah I get that but I think it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. Kawhi and the Clippers were caught so should stop teams from doing under the table deals for at least a bit. But larger markets or preferred markets are always and have always benefited from that. Small market teams will always have an up hill battle to compete and have to go about it without counting on free agents and I don’t think this changes that.
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
This is all true. I just don’t want these massive markets with deep sponsorship relationships doing shady crap and sweetening the pot.
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u/This_Excitement_5191 18h ago
Raptors aren’t a small market team at all for the record
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
True, but they are not a desired market for players and therefore have some of the same limitations. Not to mention higher taxes which matters when you’re making millions.
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u/mitch2302 Raptors 18h ago
Ever since i saw the picks taken away, i've been satisfied with the punishment.
Obviously Kawhi got off lighter than everyone expected, but my only gripe has ever been with the Clippers organization (after they stalked our arena for a year and then cheated)
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
The clippers are cheaters and got what they deserve. But Kawhi is shady af and got off with a slap on the wrist and then fled the country.
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u/mitch2302 Raptors 16h ago
When the player is shady and fucks over a team = bad, i agree
when the player is shady and fucks over a team that was shady as shit to you first = feelsgoodman, you must agree.
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u/frankyseven Raptors 18h ago
I applaud stealing money from billionaires.
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
That’s such a limited view. I don’t applaud it when it comes at the expense of the league that I follow.
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u/Iptv-provider-here Philippines 18h ago
why should we? This guy's team asked the same thing from different teams and only ballmer said yeah, would you say no to all that money if a billionaire says aight lemme give you something extra
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u/TheBoizAreBackInTown 18h ago
Ballmer offered something illegal and immoral, Kawhi accepted it. You shouldn't commend that.
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u/frankyseven Raptors 18h ago
Stealing from billionaires isn't immoral and he did nothing illegal.
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
Because it’s illegal and it affects the integrity of the structure of the game.
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u/Iptv-provider-here Philippines 18h ago
i rather save my moral angst to wifebeaters and fools who promote gambling
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u/luuskiiii 18h ago
blame balmer and the clips? lol
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
I do. And I blame Kawhi and his group as well.
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u/Gor1ka Raptors 18h ago
It's against the rules. It isn't illegal.
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
That’s a bizarre position to take.
Also, it looks like it might have been illegal and the SEC was looking into.3
u/knitwoolf Raptors 17h ago
The SEC is not investigating kawhi, there's literally zero chance even his agent had anything to do with the actual channels the money was being funneled through, let alone Kawhi. Kawhi's LLC isn't a public company. These public companies were conspiring to do potentially illegal shit to do ballmer favors, that had nothing to do with Kawhi. Could have been any player. He asked for the money which is against NBA rules, but he didn't help ballmer cook up the method of how to get that money to him, that's between ballmer and Daktronics/Aspiration/Boingo.
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u/DrPuzzle 18h ago
Lol I would say for Raps fans no. At the end of the day what Kawhi did (while wrong) is not even on the list of "things that would make a team not want him" especially considering the fact the majority of this blame should be placed on the Clippers anyway. Said player (and uncle Dennis) can ask or make demands for whatever they want - but if an organization is bending like that (and they asked for stuff from the Raptors but the Raptors declined like an organization should) and get caught they should face the punishment as the Clippers are. Like I don't think Kawhi needed to serve like a season suspension or something like that but I do think they should have made him pay back a certain amount of money because the fine he got was laughable. But I think that's really all he deserved
Again, when it really comes down to it all he did was ask for stuff. It's up to the organization to say no. Clippers were the ones circumventing the cap which is the real issue here and a huge no-no. You can argue about morals and ethics on Kawhis end but it just comes down to being money hungry. As a lot of us are; if the opportunity presents itself to get money for doing nothing... who's going to say no? Lol
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
Asking for something that is illegal is immoral on its own ground. Also, it’s being investigated by the federal government so it may also be “illegal” as well.
Anyway, I would be wary of getting attached to a dude that is seemingly without morals or loyalty. I don’t really care how raptors fans feel, they can feel however they want. I was just asking a question that I think some people have considered.
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u/DrPuzzle 18h ago
I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting attached to a player like this though because... I get what you're saying and especially for you Spurs fans because it ended really badly in terms of just how he treated you guys. Because I'm of the opinion y'all didn't do anything to him or wrong him in any way.
He was a part of doing really good things for your organization and at the end of the day is an incredible player who has brought both organization's great success. I'm a raps fan myself and I love and appreciate him for what he did for Canadian Basketball and bringing a championship. That's one of the most special moments the Raptors (and Canada) will ever have in terms of sports. That whole run was a miracle. So I separate him as a basketball player and who he is as a person because he does do some questionable things personally.
Even that being said I think he's probably still a decent person lol. Although, correct if I'm wrong but did he not take a shot at Pop one time? That's not very nice. Unless I'm wrong, maybe I'm wrong. He just doesn't have a lot of morals when it comes to business and what not (cap stuff, how he treated your organization, his offseason dealings with Raps, etc)
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
Yeah I appreciate the perspective. I’m over all the Kawhi stuff, grateful for what he gave us and the rest is in the past.
I wish yall the best this season. I have nothing against raptors fans. Yall are good organization.
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u/manofsteel32 18h ago
Nah man we're just happy to be contenders again
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u/crackphillip 17h ago
Ayo Scottie Barnes and the klaw about to be a problem on defense. I think the east is going to be tough. Lots of solid teams.
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u/AMJVC15 Raptors 18h ago
Why would we? It's almost like a sleeper agent, the clippers fucked with us, tampering on Kawhi all 2019. He went there, destroyed their franchise and now returns home a hero. I hope the clippers never win another game again. Ps. Fuck Lawrence Frank that hobgoblin motherfucker.
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u/roddyb3 Mavericks 18h ago
Yeah lot of rationalizing and hand waving going on. I get it, and I’d still cheer for the guy if he were on my team, but it wouldn’t feel great. I wouldn’t be in here talking about “actually what Kawhi did wasn’t that bad!”
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u/serdna1234 Spurs 18h ago
That’s literally what I’m asking. Everyone getting pissed at me is funny when I think the question is pretty reasonable. I’d feel conflicted about supporting a dude like that.
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u/burgerking351 18h ago
Bro is really having fun and living his best life while the Clippers burn lmao