tsherkin wrote:This isn't actually true.
KD has been basically the same level of impact since 2017, until this year, leastwise in the RS. He tailed off starting in 2022 during the playoffs. He rocked the hell out of Boston in 2021 and beat the crap out of Milwaukee in a 7-game loss. Dude dropped 35/10.5/5.5 on like 59% TS against them in 2022. And in Game 7, he went out like a boss with 48/9/6. But Harden was an oxygen thief, the bench did nothing and Joe Harris sucked. But the Bucks brutalized them on the offensive glass and Giannis went HAM as well.
So yeah, it's worth remembering that he's actually been pretty awesome until very, very recently, and that even in the RS he was high-impact until this season.
Yeah, KD started to decline as (an almost) 34yo in the 2022 playoffs (in terms of being an alpha dog for a team he plays for) - last year KD was pretty good for a 2nd option, this year as well (3.8 BPM, 65.3 TS%, not bad), and from historical perspective I believe this is still upper tier of an impact for a 35/36yo forward (not to mention his Achilles injury).
Problem of guys like Steph, KD or LeBron nowadays is that they can be vital part of a winning team, but it is expected from them to anchor their teams (offensively) and they're just too old to do so, while they're not in position team level wise to play under 'winning' conditions (and they earn top salary money). Regardless of your opinion about KD, 2016s decision etc. - it's very revisionist to analyze his overall career from perspective of his post-prime years.
It looks like his single post-Warriors opportunity to drastically improve his legacy was 2021 - he was pretty great, but this is how NBA works, you don't win and people just don't remember these epic losses after some time. KD was an inch away from eliminating future NBA champs with a worse team and right now he's a loser without Steph.
Getting close to 30k points and being ~borderline All-NBA player as soon-to-be 36yo is still a positive addition to your longevity and legacy.