Lisa Salter from ABC interviewed Larry Hughes before the game. This is what Larry said:
“I play to enjoy myself, some people take this the wrong way, but winning a championship is not what I base everything on. I was given an opportunity to play basketball, travel around and have fun doing it and that’s what I want to do. I wouldn’t take being unhappy and not being myself and winning.
I would rather enjoy myself with 18,000-20,000 people watching the game and the people sending fan mail and those things and be happy…I didn’t come here to play the point guard, that’s just it. I came here to run the wing, just like he was running the other wing. I was asked to sacrifice for the team to win and for everybody, I guess, get paid. That is what was told to me and I wasn’t happy with that.â€
That is an interesting quote from Larry. You can interpret his quote many different ways. But to my understanding, NBA players get paid to win games not to have fun. Fans come to watch their team win not to watch you Larry have fun playing basketball and making more than most fans make in their life time.
Also, Brian Windhorst brought up a good point on his blog:
“Larry earned $4 million in bonuses over the last two years because the Cavs hit win targets in his contract. The more the team won, the more he did get paid.”
Let’s not forget that he earned that money while sitting on the bench recovering from his numerous injuries.
“in the playoff run last season, even before he got hurt, I didn’t get the sense that he was happy. I never saw that joy from him, so I think this is probably more than just lip service, I think he really means it.” Brian said.