Kevin Durant's legacy

[TheWitcher]

Legend, Champion

One of the greatest offensive players to ever touch the hardwood.

GOAT Team USA player ever

Top 15 all time

[The Servant]

Its that time of the week already for another kd legacy thread

[Patches Perry]

Probably top 15 or so all-time, but definitely a big "what if" guy.

I think he'll be remembered kind of like Julius Erving where aesthetics are a bigger part of how he is remembered than accomplishments. Smooth 7 foot perimeter player who can cross you up, shoot at an ATG level and his game is just highly respected as a hooper even if the leadership, competitiveness and reaction to adversity prevented him from becoming the top 10 all-time player his overall game suggests he should be.

It's also not fair to not mention how much injuries have impacted his success. 2013 (Westbrook out), 2015 (KD out for season), 2019 (out for finals). 2020 (out for season), 2021 (Kyrie/Harden out in playoffs). Without so many injuries, his career may look a whole lot different.

[Hook_Em]

Playoff KD from 2017-2021 is one of the 2-3 greatest stretches I’ve seen from a player in the postseason.

[NBA4Lyfe]

id be intresting to see how he'd be covered if he wasnt protected by nike

thats the biggest what if for me

[CIN-C-STAR]

All-time scorer.
Lacked the intangibles to lead teams to victory at the highest level.
Top-5 “Robin” in league history.
Top-25 all time, maybe top 20.

[AmIWrongDude]

Amazing scorer. Will probably be remembered most for denying us the chance to see Steph/Warriors and LeBron/Cavs fight it out after being 1-1. Robbed us of what could’ve been the most epic rubber match of all time.

[KGDirkTD_Fan]

I don't know if this is insulting Shaq, I have a lot of respect for both of them but I see a lot of similarities between KD and Shaq.

1. One of the most dominant offensive players I've ever seen

2. Had problems with a title contending team, probably would have won more titles together. (Shaq leaving Lakers, KD leaving GSW)

3. Lots of what ifs

4. Overweight on offensive firepower, underweight on team/leadership dynamics, someone else has to fill those deficiencies in.

5. Probably could have won more/capable of being higher up the greatest players of all time list.

[CodeBreaker]

Dude is not a winner. He's just so good at riding Curry's coattails.

Shouldn't be placed in the same tier as LeBron and Curry.

Durant won both finals MVP awards because he was the best player on the team.

with his caliber, of course he'd win the MVP award for getting wide open buckets from the effect of Curry's gravity.

What has he done outside Curry? Yea, none.

[WarriorGM]

Probably top 15 or so all-time, but definitely a big "what if" guy.

I think he'll be remembered kind of like Julius Erving where aesthetics are a bigger part of how he is remembered than accomplishments. Smooth 7 foot perimeter player who can cross you up, shoot at an ATG level and his game is just highly respected as a hooper even if the leadership, competitiveness and reaction to adversity prevented him from becoming the top 10 all-time player his overall game suggests he should be.

It's also not fair to not mention how much injuries have impacted his success. 2013 (Westbrook out), 2015 (KD out for season), 2019 (out for finals). 2020 (out for season), 2021 (Kyrie/Harden out in playoffs). Without so many injuries, his career may look a whole lot different.

The injuries are one reason all the criticism KD gets for joining the Warriors are kind of bunk. There are no guarantees especially for someone of his build that injuries wouldn't continue to plague him so when opportunity knocked he took advantage of it. Fortune was being kind that year where it wasn't in other years. Only a fool thinks he can turn down such opportunities and not have it come back to haunt him. That he left Golden State should have muted the critics that hold that against him. But the Warriors were too successful with him so the criticism continues.

[yellowknifer]

Dude is not a winner. He's just so good at riding Curry's coattails.

Shouldn't be placed in the same tier as LeBron and Curry.

Durant won both finals MVP awards because he was the best player on the team.

with his caliber, of course he'd win the MVP award for getting wide open buckets from the effect of Curry's gravity.

What has he done outside Curry? Yea, none.

You can criticize the guy for sure. But this is quite the hot take. He recently almost single handily willed the nets down two stars to the finals against a really good Celtics team.

[NO-KG-AI]

Legend, Champion

One of the greatest offensive players to ever touch the hardwood.

GOAT Team USA player ever

Top 15 all time

Right or wrong, his legacy isn’t going to be “champion.” He lost the narrative and PR battle badly over the years compared to other guys winning titles.

[yellowknifer]

Legend, Champion

One of the greatest offensive players to ever touch the hardwood.

GOAT Team USA player ever

Top 15 all time

Right or wrong, his legacy isn’t going to be “champion.” He lost the narrative and PR battle badly over the years compared to other guys winning titles.

He won a finals MVP and posted crazy numbers while hitting big shots and playing great defense. How is he not a champion when he is literally a champion?

[Homer38]

He would've been viewed a forgotten star if he didn't pull one of the weakest moves in NBA history by joining a 73 win team. Basically modern day George Gervin with a MVP award.

A NON Championship team. 73 wins are irrelevant.

They won the title in 2015 with a 67 wins team.....And KD could not beat that team in 2016

[rand]

Phoenix added to KD's legacy. Two more All-Star appearances and a 2nd Team All-NBA selection at age 35. Easy to forget with mutants like LeBron and Curry around that All-NBA selections beyond that age are rare especially among players bad injury histories. Shaq's last All-NBA season was at age 34, Kobe 34, Bird 33, Barkley 33, KG 32, Wade 31, etc. KD also added another large pile of stats and three more playoff series appearances. These aren't big needle movers in legacies but every bit really does count. The 3,887 points KD has scored as a Sun are the difference between him being the 8th all-time leading scorer and the 18th.

Ultimately KD's legacy will be as one of the creme de la creme scorers, a mold-breaking offensive player and a consummate professional who was totally devoted to his craft and was never the subject of any real scandal in his whole career. A lot like Dirk just without the loyalty to a single franchise or the validating 2011 run during which Dirk reaped the rewards of a supporting cast which had a magical postseason basically with everyone overperforming for whole run. If KD had that level of support in 2021 he would have gotten his validating title run.

[Petergrifindor]

He should have NEVER left the Warriors.

He allowed the talk to get into his head and made him doubt the best decision he had ever made.

[Petergrifindor]

GOAT Team USA player ever

That's Carmelo.

Difficult to believe a priori, but there is not doubt, the guy was a monster in FIBA tournaments.

[Sixers in 4]

I think what we now know about Westbrook he deserves more of a pass than I and many others gave him at the time for OKC and the GSW

The problem is PHX and BKN can't really wipe them away.

[Han Solo]

He will be remembered fondly.

[PhilBlackson]

Top 20 & horrible at making career decisions lol