by Kent Sterling
Danny Granger is pondering a future for the 76ers – or elsewhere.
Yes, former Indiana Pacers wing Danny Granger leaves Indianapolis a very wealthy man, but that didn’t make his final departure from Bankers Life Fieldhouse any less emotional.
Granger stopped by the Pacers practice gym to say goodbye to the good friends he made while with the team for more almost nine years. There were hugs for many of his former teammates, Donnie Walsh, Frank Vogel, and an extended emotional walk with Pacers media relations maven Krissy Myers.
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Life in the NBA is about business, but when men fight alongside one another night after night, they become brothers, and earning millions of dollars doesn’t make saying farewell any easier.
Staying with the same franchise for the duration of their careers is almost unheard of, but the finality of being a trade deadline casualty still comes suddenly for a man like Granger, who teammates and fans saw develop into an all-star, and then suffer injuries that reduced his skills to the point where saying goodbye was inevitable – either now or at the end of the season as he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The juxtaposition in the video of Granger saying goodbye as work continued all around him is hard to miss. Players took time to wish Granger well, but for only a brief period of time between hoisting up the shots that will help the team win as many of the 28 regular season games that remain as possible.
After Granger left, it was all business as coach Frank Vogel discussed the men coming from Philly to Indy, and how excited they are to pick up 26 1/2 games in the standings.
Andrew Bynum worked out with his teammates today, and gave a brief synopsis of his former 76ers teammates.
I remember the years Danny Granger played his heart and soul out, game after game, walking off the floor, hanging his head as the team lost another one. It’s too bad his injury kept him from playing after he had a team to play with and win. Danny left in a gracious and memorable good bye with his teammates and Pacer’s staff. The person negotiating basketball players continued pay while unable to work should have earned a percentage of each player’s salary for that perk. Certainly enviable, that distinct perk for basketball players has to help offset the pain of being traded when you maybe aren’t ready. The rest of us could probably better cope with change in our lives with that cushion. Still, money doesn’t buy happiness.