Kevin Durant has been a part of two failed superteams

[Capn'O]

I hope teams start learning that the superteam delusion is not worth mortgaging your future over.

I hope they continue not to learn. Makes beating them all the sweeter.

We got the Suns without Beal and Durant this year and they beat us with Booker going nuts and their role players stepping up. It was like... why did they get rid of better players who complemented Booker so much better? Oh wellsky.

It is disappointing from the purist perspective that Durant could have been so good in system ball.

[Tor_Raps]

The Brooklyn one wasn't really his fault and the Phoenix one is tough... CP got hurt last year and Beal was absolutely pathetic this year.

He's never been a true leader in the same way Kawhi has never been a true leader. It doesn't mean that he isn't a killer on the court. Dude came off an Achilles injury looking much better than anyone thought he'd be. I don't really pin any of the failures on him.

Brooklyn was his fault. Moreso than this one. In Brooklyn, he was the GM, leader, and franchise player. When his team was swept by BOS, he demanded a trade before the ink was dry on his 4 year extension.

He demanded the trade because Harden hardly played and then they traded for Simmons who has been a joke. Let's not forget the whole Kyrie drama where he was in and out of the lineup because he felt like it lol.

Even with the trade demand, Durant still played great ball and were looking like the best team in the east before Kyrie said screw it all and trade me now lol.

[FarBeyondDriven]

meh, this Suns team isn't a super team and the Nets didn't have Harden when they lost and that wasn't a well constructed effort anyway. If you're going to have success with super teams you need to have players that compliment each other. Nothing about that Nets or this Suns team fits that description.

[YogurtProducer]

There’s a reason they failed. You can’t have your 3 best players be only offensive players.

The big 3 worked because Chris Bosh became a guy who played defence. KG was obviously elite on the end. Who of Besl/Booker/Harden/Irving was that guy? In all honesty - it has to be KD and that is just a stupid use of KD.

They’re superteams in name only. They were horrible fitting teams.

Hopefully, KD gets moved this offseason and we can watch him play on a team that has some semblance of team construction.

The 2023 Suns were 7th defensively. They don’t have a Kevin Garnett, but CP3, Booker, Durant, and Ayton are all above average defensive players.

And they took the champs to 6 games despite KD having like 2 months to get comfortable with a brand new team. I’d hardly call that a failure.

This season however they don’t have CP or Ayton.

[NoStatsGuy]

he can follow Jalen Brunson if he wants to.. im just sayin

[Johnny Fontane]

Good role players are important too

[art_tatum]

Should've stayed with the warriors and shared fmvps and titles.
Cause by 2024 klay and green washed, he would get more credit with wins which might retcon his other titles.
Imo if Durant stayed warriors would win or be favs. For 2021 2022 2023.
2021 kd was the best playoffs player And curry was balling.
2022 curry won without him so ez duh again.
2023 would be harder but imo they would win.

Man could've had 5 titles maybe 5 fmvps
Going for the 6th

[Godymas]

Remember that time when the Nets advertised their new big 3 of "Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan"

[The Servant]

A 36 year old post Achilles tear 7 footer just put up 27/5/6.5 on 52/41/85 (62% TS).

His team had zero depth and is paying an 18ppg player 50m.

Was this a super team? Idk if I can call it that, and when your big 3 has members that are 36 years old idk if thats a super team or a "pretty good team".

[Pharmcat]

Weakest superstar ever

[Raptor_Guy]

To be fair, the Durant/Kyrie/Harden team was extremely dominant when they all actually played and probably would have won the title in 2021 if Harden and Kyrie weren't hurt. I can't totally blame the Nets failure on Durant.

[hardenASG13]

The Brooklyn one wasn't really his fault and the Phoenix one is tough... CP got hurt last year and Beal was absolutely pathetic this year.

He's never been a true leader in the same way Kawhi has never been a true leader. It doesn't mean that he isn't a killer on the court. Dude came off an Achilles injury looking much better than anyone thought he'd be. I don't really pin any of the failures on him.

Brooklyn was his fault. Moreso than this one. In Brooklyn, he was the GM, leader, and franchise player. When his team was swept by BOS, he demanded a trade before the ink was dry on his 4 year extension.

He demanded the trade because Harden hardly played and then they traded for Simmons who has been a joke. Let's not forget the whole Kyrie drama where he was in and out of the lineup because he felt like it lol.

Even with the trade demand, Durant still played great ball and were looking like the best team in the east before Kyrie said screw it all and trade me now lol.

They would've won in Brooklyn if not for the Kyrie and Harden injuries. People in this thread are acting like they lost healthy. They were convincingly up 2-0 on the Bucks, lost Kyrie in game 4 and still almost won the series. He only demanded a trade after Kyrie did (and they'd be left with nothing because they traded for Ben Simmons). I'm not sure why youd blame an aging superstar who came back from a torn achilles for wanting out in that scenario? They were good that season too, they still made the playoffs on the back of their record with KD/Kyrie which led to people thinking Mikal Bridges was a star in the making.

In OKC, injuries and poor roster construction cost him titles. They were the best team in the league in 2013 but pat bev took out Westbrook in the first round. They were arguably better than the spurs in 2014 but had the Ibaka injury and no depth. KD was out in 2015 and then in 2016 their Iso style and lack of spacing couldn't get them one more win vs golden state, after dispatching the 60 win spurs in the WCSF.

In Phoenix, he's past his prime unfortunately. Their depth has been embarrassing, especially last year, and they just aren't a good enough team.

All this to say, there have been clear reasons for
KD led teams to not have won titles outside of Golden State. Mostly injuries to main pieces and bizarrely poorly constructed rosters. He's not going to wind up as a top 10 all time great with how it's all played out, but things really could've been different pretty easily.

[GameOver25]

He's a bus rider and not a bus driver.

[itrsteve]

I often wonder how 2021 would have panned out if his toe wasn't on the line.

Of course, I'm happy another superteam experiment failed particularly the Nets one. But it's tough to avoid the argument that they had a very strong chance of getting it done that year.

I still like KD. IMO there's still an ending to his career that could be cool, and that's seeing if there's a way Presti can wiggle him on at OKC (likely requiring a 3rd team) and bring it full circle.

[Onus]

I remember him throwing shade on GSW's system again and again after he left, saying how it didn't work against better defenses in the playoffs. Wonder how he feels about that now.

I mean hes not wrong. Warriors are/were the patriots of the NBA. System team that benefits from the product the league is promoting and are officiated accordingly.

The motion system can be shut down, just like any other system. However we have this guy Curry, and we just run what everyone else runs high pick and roll and no one could stop Curry running that. Curry also has the worst whistle for an nba star in history.

[srhcan]

He failed with James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Now he failed again with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. These two huge disasters should be seen as a big, ugly stain on his legacy. Durant has only thrived when he is playing with one of the greatest core of all time in the history of this sport. I really can't see Durant as an all-time great anymore. An all-timer should have done way better with opportunities like his.

Also we can't forget that Durant has always been a guy who joined a superteam. Basically he is a follower. He never been the alpha. He joined Golden State when the golden core is already established. He went to Brooklyn because Kyrie told him so. Lastly, he picked Phoenix as his trade destination when things get ugly in Brooklyn. And it's very possible that he is going to try to run away from Phoenix to be in a better team.

I will say it one more time. Kevin Durant is not an all time great. He can't be in the conversation anymore.

To be honest I would not call it a failure. Nets were winning NBA championship that year before Giannis injured Kyrie. I would definitely not blame KD for Kyrie's injury. It was all Bucks.

[Duffman100]

Not sure if this was a 'super team'. A bunch of us pointed out how Beal was injury prone, Durant has battle injuries and they had zero depth or defense.

This was a "we got some big names and jammed them together' team.

[OfficialRef]

He had an all star starting 5 lineup: Beal, Booker, Nurkic, Allen are all established franchise players or fringe all stars. They lost to a Minny team that had never even made it past the first round. Durant is a taller CJ McCollum.

[Marrrcuss]

Stop being surprised by KD coming up short. GSW was a fool proof situation, hes not that guy.

Actually watching those GSW teams play showed he was the best payer BY FAR.

[Marrrcuss]

So yall are blaming him for a poorly constructed team and Beal being slowed by injury?

Better mention the GM here...