Durant should've stayed with Curry

[Lalouie]

kd's legacy is DEFINED by one bad decision after another

staying with curry would have been a GOOD decision and thus not within his capacity to make

[HMFFL]

Kevin Durant on Golden State was meant to be but he broke it. I believe KD will forever regret not staying in Golden State. Golden State needed KD hustbss much as he needed them.

I've said it over and over, but imagine being a young man entering the league, you purchase a house in Seattle, then told you're having to move to OKC (what?), and once you're a free agent, you get bashed for taking advantage of it.


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I regret it because of how fun they were to watch, but I dunno that KD will or does. He didn't seem to enjoy his last season there very much and I don't think it would've changed his legacy for the foreseeable future if he had grabbed another 2-3 rings & finals MVPs with that team. It didn't matter that he was the best player on that team and the one that lead them in the finals, too many people weren't going to give him credit.

I concur.
His legacy could of been so much greater and there hasn't been many positives in his career since his departure with the exception of money.

I always thought, he deserved to play for any city, because he was forced to play for two cities, that he didn't he didn't have a choice in. He planted some roots in Seattle briefly and enjoyed it.

At this point, I view him as a second, or even third option on a true championship team.

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[web123888]

Durant’s legacy has taken such a massive hit since 2019. Could not have gone worse. Had he stayed with Warriors likely would’ve ended up with 5-6 titles and a few more FMVPs, certified top 10 all-time indisputable status.

However since then he tore his Achilles, watched the team that won it all without him do it again in 2022, and has been bounced out of 1st/2nd round every year and is essentially 36 y/o and washed up.

Zero chance of top 10-15 all time status, likely at best top 20-25.

[HMFFL]

Durant’s legacy has taken such a massive hit since 2019. Could not have gone worse. Had he stayed with Warriors likely would’ve ended up with 5-6 titles and a few more FMVPs, certified top 10 all-time indisputable status.

However since then he tore his Achilles, watched the team that won it all without him do it again in 2022, and has been bounced out of 1st/2nd round every year and is essentially 36 y/o and washed up.

Zero chance of top 10-15 all time status, likely at best top 20-25.

He's 8th all-time in points scored. He should have no problem becoming top 3 and if not top 2. He's easily a top 15 player of all-time.

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[Kawaii Leonard]

He didn’t kill the the NBA. Only Lebron is allowed to play with stars while Steph must stay chained to Klay Thompson. Right?

Pre-injury Klay is not a star?

[web123888]

Durant’s legacy has taken such a massive hit since 2019. Could not have gone worse. Had he stayed with Warriors likely would’ve ended up with 5-6 titles and a few more FMVPs, certified top 10 all-time indisputable status.

However since then he tore his Achilles, watched the team that won it all without him do it again in 2022, and has been bounced out of 1st/2nd round every year and is essentially 36 y/o and washed up.

Zero chance of top 10-15 all time status, likely at best top 20-25.

He's 8th all-time in points scored. He should have no problem becoming top 3 and if not top 2. He's easily a top 15 player of all-time.

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Nope, not easily at all. Very debatable and can easily argue he’s outside of it.

He has no argument against:

Jordan
LeBron
Kareem
Russell
Wilt
Magic
Duncan
Bird
Shaq
Kobe
Curry
Hakeem
Jokic

Very debatable if he’s ahead of:

Oscar
West
Moses
Erving
Garnett
Dirk
Giannis

[Hair Jordan]

Durant is a great scorer (albeit overrated) but historically overrated as a player. Absent his tenure in Golden State, he has a lone Finals appearance on his resume, a series he lost 4-1. The rest of his resume reads like 4 scoring titles and 1 MVP award. That’s Allen Iverson, George Gervin (minus the MVP) and Adrian Dantley (minus the MVP) territory. HOF career but nowhere near top 10. More like 20-30 range. Durant is mentally weak. If he had Jordan, Bird, Magic or Kobe’s head on his shoulders he would have accomplished so much more given his skill set. He just doesn’t have the dog in him. He would’ve been better as a second banana, beta type player ala Scottie Pippen.

[Stern]

I'm okay with him trying to build his own team. Just didn't work out.
If his foot was behind the line on 2021 game 7 vs the Bucks, maybe a better outcome for his legacy. Still won't unseat Lebron...

[10DayContract]

Klay also sat out like 2 seasons following the loss to Toronto while KD sat out basically 1 & a half seasons so we really don't know if GSW would have won another one even had KD stayed post injury.

I mean, we do know that GSW would have won another one had KD stayed, because GSW *did* win another one after KD left, in 2022.

The only 'KD superteam' that did anything of importance was the one that had won a chamionship with their roster both before he joined and after he left.

Like the butterfly effect we really don't know if that team wins in 2022 or not, does GSW still get Wiggins who had his best season ever and does Poole play out of his mind in 2022 if KD is still on that team?

I think a team of Curry, Thompson, Poole, Green and Durant win in 21, 22, 23, and probably fall off this year, but still have a puncher's chance of winning it.

[jbsays]

Durant is a great scorer (albeit overrated) but historically overrated as a player. Absent his tenure in Golden State, he has a lone Finals appearance on his resume, a series he lost 4-1. The rest of his resume reads like 4 scoring titles and 1 MVP award. That’s Allen Iverson, George Gervin (minus the MVP) and Adrian Dantley (minus the MVP) territory. HOF career but nowhere near top 10. More like 20-30 range. Durant is mentally weak. If he had Jordan, Bird, Magic or Kobe’s head on his shoulders he would have accomplished so much more given his skill set. He just doesn’t have the dog in him. He would’ve been better as a second banana, beta type player ala Scottie Pippen.

I don't know if he is mentally weak, but I agree with the rest of your assessment. You got to give him credit for coming back from that achilles injury.

It's really hard to tell just how many rings the Warriors would have won. I remember when Artest signed a MLE with the Lakers after the won a ring. Everyone thought they'd run the league for the next five years. It didn't happen. Lebron and Bosh join Wade in Miami and the go on to win not one, but two championships.... and that's it.

[Dubnation]

In 2016 when both teams were healthy the warriors were up 3-1. Then the nba decided to extend the series by suspending Draymond and Bogut and iguodala both got hurt in that game. But sure you can think whatever you want.

The nba won 2016 for Lebron

It's not the refs fault that the NBA has rules against going around kicking your opponents in the dick. I'm generally a Draymond fan, but it was Draymond's fault he got suspended. Don't wanna get suspended don't do s*** that's suspendible.

Assessing a tech after the game is over is why he got suspended. The refs in the actual game thought nothing of it

Yeah. A few calls were made because Dray took umbrage to being teabagged.

[One_and_Done]

KD set out to prove people wrong and then proved them right.

It happens.

He cared about things other than winning the most titles.

He also showed he could win without Curry just fine, unfortunately injuries etc meant it never resulted in a title. Feels like they'd have won the 21 title if 1 literal inch had been different or if they'd been healthy though.

In games KD played since leaving his teams did as follows, despite constant injury and off-court issues.

21: 23-12
22: 36-19
23: 34-13
24: 44-31

Not bad for a guy aged 32-35. Circumstances didn't align for a title, but he did just fine driving winning without Curry.

[MrBigShot]

He was never going to get credit for winning in GS. People don't even really view KD as a champion. Not in the same vein as the likes of Steph, Giannis, Jokic ect... they just know he has them on his resume.

[IG2]

Nah

Nobody respects those 2 rings and that was true even when he was part of the team. Staying in GS was never going to do anything for KD's legacy. He had to get out.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

KD set out to prove people wrong and then proved them right.

It happens.

He cared about things other than winning the most titles.

He also showed he could win without Curry just fine, unfortunately injuries etc meant it never resulted in a title. Feels like they'd have won the 21 title if 1 literal inch had been different or if they'd been healthy though.

In games KD played since leaving his teams did as follows, despite constant injury and off-court issues.

21: 23-12
22: 36-19
23: 34-13
24: 44-31

Not bad for a guy aged 32-35. Circumstances didn't align for a title, but he did just fine driving winning without Curry.

Weren't all the reports saying he wanted to prove he could win one without the Warriors? He never proved he could.

KD is a great player, of course his teams have done well, but they've all underachieved for the talent they've had since he left GS...who won before KD got there and after KD left.

[One_and_Done]

KD set out to prove people wrong and then proved them right.

It happens.

He cared about things other than winning the most titles.

He also showed he could win without Curry just fine, unfortunately injuries etc meant it never resulted in a title. Feels like they'd have won the 21 title if 1 literal inch had been different or if they'd been healthy though.

In games KD played since leaving his teams did as follows, despite constant injury and off-court issues.

21: 23-12
22: 36-19
23: 34-13
24: 44-31

Not bad for a guy aged 32-35. Circumstances didn't align for a title, but he did just fine driving winning without Curry.

Weren't all the reports saying he wanted to prove he could win one without the Warriors? He never proved he could.

KD is a great player, of course his teams have done well, but they've all underachieved for the talent they've had since he left GS...who won before KD got there and after KD left.

Injuries, context, etc.

[Pablo Escobar]

Should've never left okc. I could see him going back this offseason though to finish out his career.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

He cared about things other than winning the most titles.

He also showed he could win without Curry just fine, unfortunately injuries etc meant it never resulted in a title. Feels like they'd have won the 21 title if 1 literal inch had been different or if they'd been healthy though.

In games KD played since leaving his teams did as follows, despite constant injury and off-court issues.

21: 23-12
22: 36-19
23: 34-13
24: 44-31

Not bad for a guy aged 32-35. Circumstances didn't align for a title, but he did just fine driving winning without Curry.

Weren't all the reports saying he wanted to prove he could win one without the Warriors? He never proved he could.

KD is a great player, of course his teams have done well, but they've all underachieved for the talent they've had since he left GS...who won before KD got there and after KD left.

Injuries, context, etc.

He's pretty much hand picked his own teams and chemistry issues have been a major factor with all of them. Yes, there have been injuries, but also they have had an absurd amount of talent on all of them and still underachieving. I mean, what has he really done since leaving GS? He hasn't been in a conference championship game since, which for the teams he has been on is absolutely wild that he can't make it past the second round.

[ShootersShoot]

The guy got zero respect even after two fmvps...dont blame him for wanting to try winning with a different team

[One_and_Done]

Weren't all the reports saying he wanted to prove he could win one without the Warriors? He never proved he could.

KD is a great player, of course his teams have done well, but they've all underachieved for the talent they've had since he left GS...who won before KD got there and after KD left.

Injuries, context, etc.

He's pretty much hand picked his own teams and chemistry issues have been a major factor with all of them. Yes, there have been injuries, but also they have had an absurd amount of talent on all of them and still underachieving. I mean, what has he really done since leaving GS? He hasn't been in a conference championship game since, which for the teams he has been on is absolutely wild that he can't make it past the second round.

We're judging him as KD the player, not KD the GM. He already know most players are clueless as GMs.