This past Fourth of July, while Americans everywhere celebrated their nation’s Declaration of Independence from Britain with barbecues, fireworks, beer and hot dog eating contests, Kevin Durant decided to celebrate the occasion with a declaration of his own.
Entering the lucrative free agent market at the height of his prime Kevin Durant heard pitches from the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, and the team that drafted him the Oklahoma City Thunder. Basketball fans everywhere waited with bated breath over where KD would be playing next season and what the size of the contract would be.
Among all the fireworks that were lit on the Fourth of July Durant fired the biggest one as he announced via The Player’s Tribune that he would be leaving Oklahoma City and signing with the Golden State Warriors on a two-year $54.3 million contract with a player option after next season. While his declaration wasn’t as flashy as that of LeBron James in 2010, it still had the same effect by flipping the NBA upside down and causing a huge uproar from fans and commentators.
Since Durant was formally announced by the Warriors on July 7th a lot has been written and said about Durant leaving Oklahoma City to join Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green in Golden State. From what I can tell there are two main viewpoints that stand out when people are talking about Kevin Durant going to Golden State. The first is looking at Durant’s decision from a practical perspective and what it means right now, while the other is from the perspective of legacy and what this decision means for Durant going forward. Whichever way you choose to look at it, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for Durant.
The first viewpoint that’s been talked about through social media and other platforms is that the Durant’s decision was simply a practical one for Durant to have his best chance at winning a championship ring. In his letter for The Player’s Tribune Durant says that “the primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player” and that “it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man.” While there is not denying that going to Golden State can help Durant evolve as a player, it’s not as if Oklahoma City was stifling him either.
The closest thing that we can compare Durant’s decision to is LeBron leaving Cleveland in 2010. LeBron leaving Cleveland to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami was also considered a practical decision by some in order for him to go after that elusive championship ring. But the circumstances surrounding both decisions are very different. In the case of LeBron it was clear that from 2003-2010 that he was the Cleveland Cavaliers, where the success of each season was determined by his ability to carry the team on his back. The best the Cavaliers could do to build around LeBron were the likes of Carlos Boozer, Drew Gooden, Delonte West, Donyell Marshall, Anthony Parker, Sebastian Telfair and aging players like Antawn Jamison, and Shaquille O’Neil. As the years went on the tension between LeBron and owner Dan Gilbert grew and the inability to build a championship calibre team helped push LeBron out of his hometown.
Meanwhile for Durant, Oklahoma City has shown their willingness to invest resources around Durant to build one of the top team’s in the NBA. Unlike James’ first stint in Cleveland Durant has had a very strong supporting cast including Russell Westbrook, James Harden and others like Serge Ibaka, Dion Waiters, Thabo Sefolosha, Enes Kanter, Steven Adams, and shortly before he left, Victor Oladipo. Oklahoma City has been a championship contender for years thanks to what the Thunder management had built around Durant, unlike the 2003-2010 Cavaliers where it was just LeBron James and friends.
The situations at their destinations are also different between LeBron and Durant. When LeBron joined the Heat in 2010 Miami had become a mediocre team at best since they won the championship in 2006. Then when LeBron joined Wade and Bosh it was still clear that they were going to rebuild the team with LeBron as their centrepiece. Meanwhile Durant joins a Golden State team that won a record 73 wins last season, has made back to back NBA Finals with the two-time reigning MVP in Steph Curry and coach of the year in Steve Kerr. Although we haven’t seen what Durant’s role with the Warriors will be, he could be taking the backseat to Curry and Klay Thompson in terms of role and responsibilities.
While some have argued that if Durant was in any other profession, no one would criticize him for going to a situation that would allow him to get paid well with potentially less responsibilities. Normally they would be right, however, a professional athlete is unlike any other profession where things are done and looked at in a different light. Players of Durant’s elite status are judged on how they handle adversity and how they can be the backbone for a team and in some cases a city/state.
Durant’s decision to leave Oklahoma City, where he was the focal point to a position in Golden State where he is likely to be a supporting player but have a better shot at winning, while potentially pragmatic, has angered the people that judge Durant through the legacy perspective.
For a lot of fans, analysts and commentators Durant’s decision is one that has forever affected his legacy as a superstar player. For some, the decision to leave hurt Durant because of what he meant to Oklahoma City. Durant was the face of the Thunder since they moved from Seattle in 2008. His performance and leadership helped make the move a success by putting the city on the map as a basketball market. Off the court he also made a major impact through various charities and initiatives that he helped put together in Oklahoma City. For many in Oklahoma City the decision was a betrayal and as hall of famer Reggie Miller put it in a piece on Bleacher Report, “Durant would have been a god if he stayed in Oklahoma City” because of what it means to stay in a smaller market.
Others believe that for Durant, it wasn’t leaving that hurt his legacy, it was where he decided to go that did it. The fact that he left to the team that knocked him out of the western conference finals mere months ago has really rubbed people the wrong way. The view is that Durant quit going after a ring himself and decided if you can’t beat them then join them, which is not how superstar players conduct themselves.
As Larry Bird recently said in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, “I know back in the day, I couldn’t imagine going to the Lakers and playing with Magic Johnson. I’d rather try to beat him,” and that “I could never imagine myself going and joining another team with great players, because I had great players and I was in a great situation.” It’s the old-school view that it’s not just about whether or not a player can win championships, but how they go about doing it. The belief that when elite players are in a prime situation to win they don’t abandon ship when things get rough, which many believe Durant did by going to Golden State.
The number of rings a player has can be important when comparing the best of the best in the NBA, but it is not the end all for who is the best. If that were the case Robert Horry, who has seven championship rings as a role player would be considered a better player than the likes of Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Reggie Miller, Allen Iverson, Dominique Wilkins and Elgin Baylor.
By joining Golden State Durant has shown that as he enters his 10th season he is all in on winning a championship and is willing to do whatever it takes to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy. Which includes taking on the role of the villain in the 2016-2017 season by fans everywhere outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. Now nothing in the NBA is set in stone, especially when it comes to how players are perceived. LeBron James proved that this season.
But, whichever way you choose to look his decision Durant has forever altered his legacy for the wrong reasons and going forward he will have a very hard time changing people’s perceptions of him. All for the allure of championship gold.