Kevin Durant: I Took Less Money To Keep Team Together

[dice]

2 things have to happen in order for the cavs to win the title in 2016 w/ durant: he has to have a solid game in game 5 of the finals (lebron was great but didn't need to be - won by 15, went up double digits w/ 6 minutes left and never looked back). and he has to have a good game in game 7 (lebron wasn't making shots but had a good all-around game). i don't think anything else plays out materially differently on the season. so would durant have won a title? no idea. i'll lean no

this is a year later. and the cavs were not a great team this past season. their one and only notable accomplishment was thrashing the celtics in the ECF. and yes, they most certainly would have done that w/ durant in lebron's place. the celtics couldn't stop anybody on the team. it was freakish

durant arguably outplayed lebron in the finals head-to-head. they put up comparable numbers on the season. durant improved his game all around. he most certainly has an ARGUMENT that he is now the best player. and lebron will be a year older this coming season while durant will still be in his prime. maybe the finals were when the torch was passed

While I've firmly believed that Durant was the best player since his MVP season, it's easy to say he beat LeBron in the Finals due to all the attention that Curry, Green (for some reason teams don't just play this average at best offensive player one-on-one instead of doubling,) and Klay get. Durant had wide open spaces to do whatever he wanted. LeBron only had Kyrie to take attention away from him.

This is the point that ends the argument. LeBron would be skewered for having some of the past playoff performances/failures that Durant has had pre-joining a team that won more games than any team ever has.

what fans and critics have said in the past actually has no bearing whatsoever on who is the better player RIGHT NOW

and it's more that a little ironic that you're criticizing Durant for one-upping LeBron on the superteam concept that LeBron started. which LeBron decided to do based on his own playoff failures (the biggest of which occurred IN miami). so of course LeBron would be skewered for doing what Durant has done. he already WAS and already DID

it's quite possible if not PROBABLE that neither one of them has a ring if they stayed with the team that drafted them

[ChokeFasncists]

Dang, stupid OKC, if they were just willing to pay Harden, bandwagon crap like this wouldn't have happened.

Then if KD takes less to pay guys like Ibaka, people would be praising him.

What a terrible decision, the original sin

[fansinceforever]

While I've firmly believed that Durant was the best player since his MVP season, it's easy to say he beat LeBron in the Finals due to all the attention that Curry, Green (for some reason teams don't just play this average at best offensive player one-on-one instead of doubling,) and Klay get. Durant had wide open spaces to do whatever he wanted. LeBron only had Kyrie to take attention away from him.

This is the point that ends the argument. LeBron would be skewered for having some of the past playoff performances/failures that Durant has had pre-joining a team that won more games than any team ever has.

what fans and critics have said in the past actually has no bearing whatsoever on who is the better player RIGHT NOW

and it's more that a little ironic that you're criticizing Durant for one-upping LeBron on the superteam concept that LeBron started. which LeBron decided to do based on his own playoff failures (the biggest of which occurred IN miami). so of course LeBron would be skewered for doing what Durant has done. he already WAS and already DID

it's quite possible if not PROBABLE that neither one of them has a ring if they stayed with the team that drafted them

You're not taking into account the dispirity in talent between the Warriors and the Cavs last year or with the Heat when lebron played there, frankly.

You're also ignoring the fact that the Warriors were already a 73 win team and up 3-1 in the finals on the cavs the previous year.

I'll give you that i'ts similar but not the same. Im sure you also wouldn't argue that Durant had theshortage of talent around him in OKC that LeBron did in Cleveland.

[dice]

This is the point that ends the argument. LeBron would be skewered for having some of the past playoff performances/failures that Durant has had pre-joining a team that won more games than any team ever has.

what fans and critics have said in the past actually has no bearing whatsoever on who is the better player RIGHT NOW

and it's more that a little ironic that you're criticizing Durant for one-upping LeBron on the superteam concept that LeBron started. which LeBron decided to do based on his own playoff failures (the biggest of which occurred IN miami). so of course LeBron would be skewered for doing what Durant has done. he already WAS and already DID

it's quite possible if not PROBABLE that neither one of them has a ring if they stayed with the team that drafted them

You're not taking into account the dispirity in talent between the Warriors and the Cavs last year or with the Heat when lebron played there, frankly.

You're also ignoring the fact that the Warriors were already a 73 win team and up 3-1 in the finals on the cavs the previous year.

I'm not ignoring any of that. LeBron manufactured a situation where his team would automatically be the favorite. Durant did the same, except his team is the heaviest of favorites

Im sure you also wouldn't argue that Durant had theshortage of talent around him in OKC that LeBron did in Cleveland.

true. LeBron also didn't have to deal with an inferior point guard taking more shots than him

what LeBron did was bad, what Durant has done is worse

[fansinceforever]

what fans and critics have said in the past actually has no bearing whatsoever on who is the better player RIGHT NOW

and it's more that a little ironic that you're criticizing Durant for one-upping LeBron on the superteam concept that LeBron started. which LeBron decided to do based on his own playoff failures (the biggest of which occurred IN miami). so of course LeBron would be skewered for doing what Durant has done. he already WAS and already DID

it's quite possible if not PROBABLE that neither one of them has a ring if they stayed with the team that drafted them

You're not taking into account the dispirity in talent between the Warriors and the Cavs last year or with the Heat when lebron played there, frankly.

You're also ignoring the fact that the Warriors were already a 73 win team and up 3-1 in the finals on the cavs the previous year.

I'm not ignoring any of that. LeBron manufactured a situation where his team would automatically be the favorite. Durant did the same, except his team is the heaviest of favorites

Im sure you also wouldn't argue that Durant had theshortage of talent around him in OKC that LeBron did in Cleveland.

true. LeBron also didn't have to deal with an inferior point guard taking more shots than him

what LeBron did was bad, what Durant has done is worse

Except the Warriors would've been the favorite without him too... The Heat were not even the favorite to win the finals 2 of the years LeBron was in Miami. Miami would've been a solid, outside of top tier playoff team with no rings without LeBron.

Nope. Just relied on a player far, far inferior to Russell Westbrook to be a major contributor to what they hoped was a championship team (Mo Williams).

[spree2kawhi]

Big difference Durant. Dirk and Duncan sacrificed money to improve THEIR team.

They didn't jump ship and take less money to have an easy road to the championship on some other team. Durant could make this argument had he taken less money to build a team in OKC around Westbrook and himself but he took the easy route instead.

You sound like she left you for another man.

Weird comment? Huh?

I have no vested interest in either OKC or GSW. I'd simply prefer a league with more rivalry and they superfriends superteam era is preventing that. Durant is completely within his right to sign with GSW and for less money but it's my opinion that he took the easy road to a championship. He simply piggybacked on to the team that was already the best team in the NBA.

There is no such thing as superteams or superfriends. The are basketball players. They can do whatever they want with their contracts and the rest of the league need to step up and stop crying like school girls. It's not like he or they promised not one, not two, not three but eight championships... they're basketball players, nothing super anywhere to be seen.

[2011Champs]

You sound like she left you for another man.

Weird comment? Huh?

I have no vested interest in either OKC or GSW. I'd simply prefer a league with more rivalry and they superfriends superteam era is preventing that. Durant is completely within his right to sign with GSW and for less money but it's my opinion that he took the easy road to a championship. He simply piggybacked on to the team that was already the best team in the NBA.

There is no such thing as superteams or superfriends. The are basketball players. They can do whatever they want with their contracts and the rest of the league need to step up and stop crying like school girls. It's not like he or they promised not one, not two, not three but eight championships... they're basketball players, nothing super anywhere to be seen.

Dude, you are so weird. Lol.
Nobody is crying. Nobody is saying players can't do something. It's just an opinion many people share that the league is better when stars are rivals rather than friends. It's simply more fun to many of us.

But come on now. All of your references to schoolgirls and women leaving and stuff like that? Very creepy. I have to read your post in Zara Pachulia voice. Lol

[spree2kawhi]

Weird comment? Huh?

I have no vested interest in either OKC or GSW. I'd simply prefer a league with more rivalry and they superfriends superteam era is preventing that. Durant is completely within his right to sign with GSW and for less money but it's my opinion that he took the easy road to a championship. He simply piggybacked on to the team that was already the best team in the NBA.

There is no such thing as superteams or superfriends. The are basketball players. They can do whatever they want with their contracts and the rest of the league need to step up and stop crying like school girls. It's not like he or they promised not one, not two, not three but eight championships... they're basketball players, nothing super anywhere to be seen.

Dude, you are so weird. Lol.
Nobody is crying. Nobody is saying players can't do something. It's just an opinion many people share that the league is better when stars are rivals rather than friends. It's simply more fun to many of us.

But come on now. All of your references to schoolgirls and women leaving and stuff like that? Very creepy. I have to read your post in Zara Pachulia voice. Lol

There's nothing creepy behind the idea that people stop complaining and playing victim to what other men do with their lives and instead embrace a challenge rather than going on record saying this or that is unfair. You don't go and say, "No, they may not play together, that's unfair." You shut up and try to beat them.

[CobraCommander]

paying boatloads of luxury tax cannot simply be written off by winning. that's not how the business of owning an nba team works. ask marc cuban. there's always going to be a price point where spending more doesn't make sense business-wise. i don't know if the warriors get to that point by signing durant to a max deal while also paying iggy and livingston, but obviously durant doesn't want to find out

and there's no honor in spoiling rotten generations of family members. that's how entitled pricks are created...see previous post

Dice...so Durant sacrifices his family's generational wealth so that the Warriors owners can KEEP theirs?

you're assuming that the team would be spending on other players whether they pay durant or not. bad assumption

Durant is a strong baller with a weak financial plan

he does. not. care.

Durant taking less on that compound interest and thinking cause he in the valley he gonna get dot-com money....it's laughable

has he ever said this? no? then why are you putting words in his mouth? his salary with the warriors is completely independent of that anyway, so it's not really relevant to the discussion

anybody who thinks this is a good financial decision for him is foolish. i can't imagine that HE thinks that. his agent is certainly not putting that in his ear

durant knows there's at least a CHANCE that a quality teammate or two will not be retained if he takes max money. and so he's not. that's all there is to it

Yeah Durant didnt say he went to the bay for opportunities off the court...except he did https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/03/24/ashton-kutcher-kevin-durant-zenreach-funding.html.

I'm not hating on him for having a short term financial vision. It's not like he comes from money or was trained in how to multiply his wealth. Durant is from the same area as me most of the guys on the wiz board are from and only a few of us really "make it out" and really grow our networth in a way that it in generational. I respect Durants choices but I think taking less than Market value for your labor during the limited time (12-15 of his 70 years on earth) that you can demand max value is illogical. When an Athlete stops being worth the money he is requesting, he stops getting the money- PERIOD... Kobe got his money on his last contract not because of his play or his bad GM, but because he could still fill the stands. If Durant wants to trade MILLIONS for rings worth a few hundred thousand dollars...thats his call.

But please quantify what 6 rings for Durant will be worth. So how much more do you think Durants networth is increased with each championship?

[dice]

Dice...so Durant sacrifices his family's generational wealth so that the Warriors owners can KEEP theirs?

you're assuming that the team would be spending on other players whether they pay durant or not. bad assumption

Durant is a strong baller with a weak financial plan

he does. not. care.

Durant taking less on that compound interest and thinking cause he in the valley he gonna get dot-com money....it's laughable

has he ever said this? no? then why are you putting words in his mouth? his salary with the warriors is completely independent of that anyway, so it's not really relevant to the discussion

anybody who thinks this is a good financial decision for him is foolish. i can't imagine that HE thinks that. his agent is certainly not putting that in his ear

durant knows there's at least a CHANCE that a quality teammate or two will not be retained if he takes max money. and so he's not. that's all there is to it

Yeah Durant didnt say he went to the bay for opportunities off the court...except he did https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/03/24/ashton-kutcher-kevin-durant-zenreach-funding.html

you have provided no quote from kevin Durant saying that he went to the warriors so that he can invest in silicon valley. and guess what? a person can invest in silicon valley sitting in Oklahoma city

I'm not hating on him for having a short term financial vision

it's not a short term financial vision. it's not caring as much as you as maximizing long-term finances

It's not like he comes from money or was trained in how to multiply his wealth. Durant is from the same area as me most of the guys on the wiz board are from and only a few of us really "make it out" and really grow our networth in a way that it in generational

more would if they cared to

I respect Durants choices but I think taking less than Market value for your labor during the limited time (12-15 of his 70 years on earth) that you can demand max value is illogical

there is no illogic in someone having a slightly different value system than you do

Durant cares more about enjoying his remaining playing years than he does about spoiling progeny that he will never meet. nothing wrong with that whatsoever

When an Athlete stops being worth the money he is requesting, he stops getting the money- PERIOD

I'm quite certain that kevin Durant knows that he will likely never be able to get more than he is worth just because he asks for it. he knows that the money he is giving up now will never be repaid in full

Kobe got his money on his last contract not because of his play or his bad GM, but because he could still fill the stands

he got it for PR purposes. maybe for TV money too. lakers were gonna sell out whether kobe was there at the end or not

If Durant wants to trade MILLIONS for rings worth a few hundred thousand dollars...thats his call.

you realize he's not trading the money for the financial value of the rings, right?

But please quantify what 6 rings for Durant will be worth. So how much more do you think Durants networth is increased with each championship?

certainly not as much as he's giving up. but that's not the point

again, if his goal is to maximize long-term wealth, this is a bad decision. that is not his goal