Durant was injured;
Lillard was injured;
Thick Eyebrows was injured;
Morant was injured;
Edwards was injured...
That injury list was enough to fill out the most luxurious All-Star lineup, with first-rate stars on the bench, too.
A lot of people watched the NBA for the stars. Now that the stars were injured and couldn't play, the NBA's popularity naturally plummeted.
In this difficult season, the Kings had lost Wang Yi, but they had still fought hard.
With Danny, Xiao Qiao, and Tures—players who had come up with Wang Yi—they seemed to have inherited his spirit.
They played hard and fearlessly.
Even against the Five-star Bucks, they were willing to give it their all.
So, despite losing Wang Yi, the Kings had still put together a decent record.
They had stayed firmly in fifth place in the West.
Without Wang Yi, Danny's performance also seemed to be getting worse.
He was now averaging only 9.7 points per game.
In truth, that was to be expected.
Danny's style of play depended on someone drawing the defense and passing him the ball when he was open so he could shoot a three.
Now that Wang Yi had retired, it was hard for the other players to draw defenders like he had. As a result, someone was often keeping an eye on Danny, and his performance naturally suffered.
But Danny was still one of the best defenders in the league.
He was among the strongest at defending small forwards.
Even before Durant got injured, he sometimes struggled against Danny.
But with three games left before the Playoffs, Danny fractured a bone in his foot after stepping on an opponent's foot, ending his season.
In the end, although the Kings reached Game 7 of the first round of the Playoffs in this shortened season thanks