Fade Runner 2049
Veteran
Because the prevailing notion is that players play through pain and they deal with shyt that comes up and it's a matter of pain tolerance. Tony Parker in particular claimed he had a similar injury and was like "I played through it. Why can't he?" It was also this thought of "either get it surgically repaired so we know for sure, or suck it up and play." That's the mistake his Spurs teammates made.
Nobody thought that Kawhi of all people was soft and couldn’t play and take the pain.
They wanted him to risk his career and play through and injury and he refused and was dragged.