I just want to say that I’m super glad that there aren’t HD professional-quality cameras filming at pick up games. Not because I suck at basketball (I don’t), but because I for sure make the most ridiculous faces while playing and I don’t want a hypothetical audience to see that. The other dudes on the court, they’re too busy trying to figure out how to get the ball so they can jack another ultra-deep three like they’re Stephen Curry. They don’t see all my grimaces and my mouthbreathing and my despair. But if there was some jerkoff on the internet making highlights of me and trying to find good thumbnail images, it would be embarrassing.
NBA players, for the most part, have learned to keep their most embarrassing facial expressions hidden so that they don’t get mocked. Sometimes you have a slip up, mostly at the free-throw line, where repetition is the most important thing and thinking about how to arrange your face while shooting is going to be detrimental. But normally, they keep a fairly neutral expression unless they’re trying to look really hard because they made a shot or whatever.
I don’t know where I’m going with this other than that maybe I feel a little guilty for finding the silliest thumbnail images I can. These NBA players are human too, and they don’t deserve to be mocked just because they’re NBA players. But, at the same time, look at that thumbnail of Luke Kennard. Doesn’t he look funny!