Storyline: Kevin Durant isn’t joining players on a downtrodden team. He isn’t an aging vet looking to secure that elusive ring. And he isn’t going to a team looking to get over the championship hurdle. No, KD is joining forces with players who’ve already won a title and were a minute away from winning another.
How the hell is any NBA team going to guard a Kevin Durant and Steph Curry pick & roll? Can any NBA defense match up with the shooting threats of Durant, Curry and Klay Thompson? The trio happens to be the three best marksmen in the league and, possibly, three of the best in NBA history.
Courtesy: The Players Tribune
The Golden State Warriors still have to prove it on the floor but, on paper, with the addition of Kevin Durant the 2017 Warriors look unstoppable.
As an NBA fan and enthusiast of NBA history, I’m struggling to accept the news of Durant’s move to Golden State. KD is no villain. He has every right to pick the best opportunity for him and only him. However his decision to flee OKC and move to the East Bay is unprecedented. Never in NBA history have we seen a top five player in his prime move to a team with the talent of the Warriors.
I have no problems with NBA super teams. I was all for it when the Lakers signed the aging, former All-Stars Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004 to join Shaq and Kobe. Kevin Garnett spent enough time in Minnesota trying to secure a title. Garnett earned the right to join forces with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in Boston for that NBA title in 2008. The T-Wolves never surrounded him with the necessary talent.
I was even fine with “The Decision” by LeBron James. The TV spectacle may have been a bad choice, but I thought the criticism following it was much worse. Cleveland just never gave LeBron a decent enough team to win a title. The 2007 Cavs made the Finals, but that was on LeBron’s talent alone. Cleveland was easily swept by San Antonio and never added more talent to support James over the next two years.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
When James took his talents to South Beach to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh I thought it was a smart move for his career. LeBron was the best player on a Heat team that went to four straight NBA Finals and took home two championships. He secured his legacy as an all-time great in Miami. Then James went back to a Cleveland team with more talent than when he left. When LeBron won the title this past June it only cemented his legacy as one of the best players ever.
Durant’s move to the Warriors is so much different. Durant is not forming a super team with players from other downtrodden teams. He isn’t an aging vet looking for a team to finally secure that elusive ring. He isn’t going to a team looking to get over that final championship hurdle. No, KD is joining forces with a core that already has one title and was a minute away from repeating last year. He isn’t going to lead the Warriors with two time MVP Curry at the helm, but will just be another piece to the puzzle.
Durant also left a team in OKC with legitimate title hopes and talent. He wasn’t wasting his career away with the Thunder, but was leading one of the best teams in the league! Russell Westbrook is a top five player and Steven Adams is one of the best young centers in the league. The Thunder just had the Warriors down 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals before imploding! (I’m using exclamation points as I write this because it all seems so inconceivable!)
Courtesy: SI.com
The Thunder were so close to the title. And Durant now just crossed over enemy lines to play for the other side. I’d be completely inconsolable if I was an OKC fan. I’m not really into jersey burning, but I think OKC fans have more right to be angry at Durant than Cleveland fans were about LeBron back in 2010.
In my view–and I would assume most fans view,–it seems KD took the easy route to the title. It will be much easier to win with this Warriors team than it would have been for OKC to overtake the Warriors in the Western Conference. As a devotee to NBA history that choice disappoints me quite a bit. Leading a Thunder franchise to their first NBA title is more impressive than joining all-Star cast in Golden State that already has a title.
Of course Durant’s history is not yet complete, so we all just have to wait and see. The Warriors could end up winning four straight titles and Durant might earn some Finals MVPs along the way. How would that change history’s perception of him? Or maybe be bounces back to OKC after a couple of titles with Golden State and finally wins one for the Thunder? No one could label that impossible after what we just witnessed in Cleveland.
My initial reaction to Durant’s choice was “I hate it” and “Kobe or MJ would never do that,” but those reactions are the NBA fanatic in me. I do believe this move weakens the league next year and maybe beyond: everyone will be chasing the Warriors once again. They didn’t even need Durant to win the title in 2017, but they have him and are the overwhelming favorites (and villains) of the NBA.
Ok, maybe I still hate Durant’s choice, but it will definitely make NBA history.
