Kevin Durant has selected to play for the Golden State Warriors. Today’s NBA player is much more concerned with winning championships than showing loyalty to the team
Kevin Durant made one of the biggest moves in the history of the NBA for a superstar of his caliber when he choose to join the two-time defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors over the team who drafted him nearly a decade ago, the OKC Thunder.
Durant also bailed on his long-time friend Russell Westbrook, who many thought could help Durant eventually capture their first championship together.
Westbrook has fell victim to a lot of skepticism from NBA reporters and analysts who say that he shoots way too much and doesn’t compliment Durant’s game. The two together make for a lot of one-on-one on the offensive end of the floor, which can easily become frustrating to coaches and their teammates.
This being said, Durant has always come to Westbrook’s defense when asked about their fit and what he thought about such comments about Westbrook. He emphatically and undeniably has always built Westbrook up to the media and has shown that he is fine with him taking the majority of shots at numerous times.
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Many have speculated that, because of this and their successful tenure together thus far in Oklahoma City, would be enough to keep Durant interested in continuing his career with the Thunder. But it simply wasn’t enough.
Durant has changed the way that we need to look at the way NBA superstars think and what’s important to them in terms of their basketball legacy.
In the past, we have seen superstars who have been very loyal to the teams that drafted them and who embraced the challenge of having to beat other superstars without joining a collection of other stars and superstars to do so (i.e. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and others).
Their entire careers were spent with one team, win or lose.
I’m not saying that Kevin Durant and LeBron James are necissarily wrong with their decisions. Different is the word I would use
In today’s NBA we see similar level superstars such as Durant having the desire to put aside any rivalry and join up and play with their friends and give themselves the absolute best chance to win multiple NBA championships. Winning championships seem to prevail in their minds over money (OKC could have offered more money to Durant), loyalty, and public perception.
Another example of this is when LeBron James made a similar decision to Durant’s just about six years back when he decided to leave his hometown Cavaliers to join his buddies in Miami with the Heat. James and the Heat went to the NBA Finals four consecutive seasons and came away with two titles.
Like Durant will for this decision, James took on a world of criticism for needing to play with top-of-the-line talent in order to actually capture his first NBA title.
Durant and the Thunder were just up 3-1 on the same Warriors in the Western Conference Finals about a month and a half ago. Durant’s decision seems to make the implication that the Thunder couldn’t give him enough help in order to beat a team like the Warriors, but the truth of the matter is that the majority of the blame for their epic collapse should go on his shoulders.
He shrunk under pressure in each of the final three Warrior victories, imparticularly Game 6 where he was nearly a non-factor late in the game. The truth that Durant failed to see was that even if the Thunder didn’t make another move for the entire offseason, they would still be title contenders if he and Westbrook could stay healthy.
Durant joins a Warriors team that went an NBA record 73-9 last season without him on the roster. Why this is relevant is because even if Durant tears his Achilles’ game one (knock on wood for the contrary), the Warriors are still the favorites to win the 2017 NBA Championship.
Next: Possible Trade Destinations for Russell Westbrook
I’m not saying that Kevin Durant and LeBron James are necissarily wrong with their decisions. Different is the word I would use. They are much less concerned with how their fans will see them in the short term and much more concerned with playing with their friends in an attempt to win as many championships as possible.