Andrew Bynum’s knees are still hurting him, so a good game to skip would be this Friday’s, when he and the Cavs visit the Sixers.
Philadelphia, of course, is the place where Bynum spent one unceremonious season not playing through his knee problems, a season that included a history of behavior that had fans convinced he did not care the least bit. (This, notably, was after the Sixers gave up Andre Iguodala and a draft pick in a four-team trade to get the injured Bynum and his $16.9 million salary for one year of service in which he did not play.)
But Bynum will play Friday, he says, and he’ll rub as much salt in the wound as possible before he steps onto the court.
“It wasn’t my choice to get rid of me,” Bynum told the Akron Beacon Journal of the Sixers not making a run at him when he became a free agent this offseason — after, again, he spent $16.9 million of the team’s money and didn’t play any games. “I don’t feel bad at all. … If I was not hurt, I would’ve played. That’s really the end to that story.”
Complicating Bynum’s explanation is that he is playing hurt this year, for the Cavs. But he seemed prepared for the criticism that will accompany such a stance, and perhaps was trying to encourage more hate.
“I think they’ll probably boo, but that’s their choice,” Bynum said of Sixers fans.
Bynum has 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds a game this year. He’s played 51 minutes over four games and has said he’ll sit out the back end of back-to-backs to try to preserve his health.
