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Is there anything sadder than watching an NBA player work his way through a press conference right after losing a tough game? The player just spent 48 minutes—or more—giving everything he had out on the basketball court to try and help his team win and the absolute last thing he feels like doing is sitting in front of a crowd of reporters shouting things like "Talk about how you're feeling right now…" But because the NBA forces players to participate in post-game press conferences, he has no choice. So he sits and he sulks and, sometimes, he cries and, well, it's all just sad. So very sad.
Earlier this week, Chris Paul provided a classic example of this after the Thunder made a huge comeback during Game 5 of the Oklahoma City/Los Angeles playoff series to knock off the Clippers. CP3 looked so upset that we wanted a reporter—any reporter—to get up and give him a hug. But he's far from the first NBA player to look like someone just stole his puppy at the post-game press conference podium. Here are The Saddest Press Conference Struggle Faces in Recent NBA History.
RELATED: The Best Struggle Faces in Sports
Kevin Durant
Year: 2012
He Looked Like: His mom forgot to pick up Totino's Pizza Rolls at the grocery store
KD later admitted that he cried for a week after losing to the Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals. We imagine he started shortly after this photo was taken.
LeBron James
Year: 2010
He Looked Like: Delonte West just told him about, well, you know
King James led the league in thousand-yard stares during his final year in Cleveland.
Tim Duncan
Year: 2013
He Looked Like: He just looked in the mirror after getting a 'cut from the barber who no one ever wants
Wouldn't you look like this if you were less than 30 seconds away from winning an NBA championship and blew your opportunity?
Kobe Bryant
Year: 2010
He Looked Like: He found out that the Lakers were thinking about bringing Smush Parker back to the team
Does this look like a guy who was in the mood to answer questions?
Tracy McGrady
Year: 2007
He Looked Like: Someone just told him you have to win four games to advance to the second round
This is what being "at a loss for words" looks like.
Chris Bosh
Year: 2011
He Looked Like: His wife just told him about the time she spent a weekend with Lil Wayne
You can't see Bosh's eyes here because he literally cried them out after the Heat lost in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Roy Hibbert
Year: 2013
He Looked Like: He just got done reading through his Twitter mentions from the last few weeks
Too big to fail? Um, no.
Steve Nash
Year: 2013
He Looked Like: He was trying to imitate a sad emoji
This photo had "MEME ME!" written all over it, didn't it?
Blake Griffin
Year: 2012
He Looked Like: Someone just informed him that there are commercials on TV that don't feature him
BG is a pretty funny guy…except when he's doing a press conference.
Rajon Rondo
Year: 2012
He Looked Like: He wished a reporter would ask him something stupid
Does Rondo ever smile during his post-game pressers? It sure doesn't look like it.
Amar'e Stoudemire
Year: 2012
He Looked Like: He had just lost a fight against a fire extinguisher. Oh, wait…
Knicks fans could only dream about that sling being one of STAT's silly fashion accessories.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade
Year: 2011
They Looked Like: They were still mad about someone finding them in the previous round of hide-and-seek
Did Coach Spoelstra just ground you guys for picking on Chris Bosh or something?
Tony Parker
Year: 2013
He Looked Like: He just remembered the time he tried to be a rapper
That Spurs Game 6 loss to the Heat in the NBA Finals last season was no joke. This is further proof of that.
Joakim Noah
Year: 2012
He Looked Like: His band just broke up
No fux were given during the taking of this photograph.
Chris Paul
Year: 2013
He Looked Like: Someone told him green was not the new black
Oh, you thought CP3 was new to the press conference struggle face? Nah, son. He's been working on his for years.