Will Kevin Durant ever win a Championship as the best player on his team?

[Drygon]

The past 10 years, these players won rings as the best player on their team

- LeBron (2016 & 2020)

- Curry (2015, 2017, 2018 & 2022)

- Jokic (2023)

- Giannis (2021)

- Kawhi 2019)

- Tatum (2024)

KD was amazing during his OKC tenure as their clear-cut best player. After when KD joined the 73-9 GSW team, Curry was objectively still clear-cut bus driver even when they were teammates for 3 years. Just look at their on/off numbers on a massive sample size.

https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612744&Season=2018-19,2017-18,2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=201142,201939

Curry ON Durant ON: +15.89

Curry ON Durant OFF: +12.44

Durant ON Curry OFF: +2.40

Durant OFF Curry OFF: -3.79



Do you believe KD will somehow manage to win a Championship as the team's best player before retring?

[TheNG]

This is a challenge: the winner of this thread is the one who will be able to spot all the mistakes in the initial post

[Ruma85]

The past 10 years, these players won rings as the best player on their team

- LeBron (2016 & 2020)

- Curry (2015, 2017, 2018 & 2022)

- Jokic (2023)

- Giannis (2021)

- Kawhi 2019)

- Tatum (2024)

KD was amazing during his OKC tenure as their clear-cut best player. After when KD joined the 73-9 GSW team, Curry was objectively still clear-cut bus driver even when they were teammates for 3 years. Just look at their on/off numbers on a massive sample size.

https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612744&Season=2018-19,2017-18,2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=201142,201939

Curry ON Durant ON: +15.89

Curry ON Durant OFF: +12.44

Durant ON Curry OFF: +2.40

Durant OFF Curry OFF: -3.79

While I would love for it to happen for KD I just don't see how that is, unless he get's traded to Houston this season, I really have a hard time barring a great trade, so the Suns can make a serious run and that's if they make the playoffs.

[bisme37]

He's 36 and plays for the Suns so probably not at this point.

That said, I don't think it's written in stone that he has not already done this.

[Tor_Raps]

They started the season so damn well... crazy how they're falling apart like this even with a healthy squad.

I thought they were a serious contender THIS year. Odds will only decrease for KD as the years go by now unless he wins one as a role player at the very end of his career.

[LLJ]

He's too old now.

He was the best Finals player on the 73-9 team though.

[Fadeaway_Jumper]

lol people in their feelings saying Durant wasn’t the best player on GSW continues despite all the evidence and statistics to the contrary.

Is it because he embarrassed Lebron in those series? Regardless of how you feel he has the 2 Finals MVPs to his name

[HMFFL]

Steph fan here! What a wild ride it's been.

KD already won as the best player on Golden State and he's a 2x Finals MVP.

Feel free to compare the playoff runs numbers instead of regular season.

Steph fans became happy after KD left since Steph eventually won a Finals MVP.

At 36 years old, no, he won't achieve it again.

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[Drygon]

He's too old now.

He was the best Finals player on the 73-9 team though.

Regardless of how you feel he has the 2 Finals MVPs to his name

Steph fan here! What a wild ride it's been.

KD already won as the best player on Golden State and he's a 2x Finals MVP.

Do you also acknowledge that Iguodala (2015) & Jaylen Brown (2024) were clear-cut best players on their teams as well then?

Finals MVP isn't a good metric on whoever was the bus driver for a Championship team.

[Tottery]

He already did with the Warriors. People attempt to discredit it due to joining a good team, but I'm not certain the Warriors could have beat the Cavs without him. He also received both Finals MVP's, which means something.

[LarsV8]

Already did.

[Tottery]

He's too old now.

He was the best Finals player on the 73-9 team though.

Regardless of how you feel he has the 2 Finals MVPs to his name

Steph fan here! What a wild ride it's been.

KD already won as the best player on Golden State and he's a 2x Finals MVP.

Do you also acknowledge that Iguodala (2015) & Jaylen Brown (2024) were clear-cutt players on their teams as well then?

Using Finals MVP isn't a good argument to say the least

Brown during the post season, yes. Iguodala is an enigma.

[Fadeaway_Jumper]

He's too old now.

He was the best Finals player on the 73-9 team though.

Regardless of how you feel he has the 2 Finals MVPs to his name

Steph fan here! What a wild ride it's been.

KD already won as the best player on Golden State and he's a 2x Finals MVP.

Do you also acknowledge that Iguodala (2015) & Jaylen Brown (2024) were clear-cutt players on their teams as well then?

Finals MVP isn't a good metric on whoever was the bus driver for a Championship team.

So you want to discredit Iguodala’s and Jaylen’s Finals MVP because someone else on the team scored more than them. But Durant was by far the best scorer on his team not just in points but also efficiency, but he doesn’t deserve the TWO MVPs in your eyes.

Hilarious double standard. Just admit you don’t like the guy

[MarcusBrody]

He's too old now.

He was the best Finals player on the 73-9 team though.

He wasn't even on the 73-9 team.

I'm with others, though, and think that Durant was the best player on at least one of the two titles he won with the Warriors (though Steph/Draymond were also great and they all worked together well for the system)

[HMFFL]

He's too old now.

He was the best Finals player on the 73-9 team though.

Regardless of how you feel he has the 2 Finals MVPs to his name

Steph fan here! What a wild ride it's been.

KD already won as the best player on Golden State and he's a 2x Finals MVP.

Do you also acknowledge that Iguodala (2015) & Jaylen Brown (2024) were clear-cutt players on their teams as well then?

Finals MVP isn't a good metric on whoever was the bus driver for a Championship team.

What I acknowledge is that Golden State as a team and city fully benefited from Kevin Durant and it was ruined what could have been.


So, now a bunch of people enjoy discrediting KD, all while they lift up Steph, when at one point it was uncertain if Steph would ever win a Finals MVP. 

Sincerely,

Steph Curry Fan

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[nate33]

Durant was the best player on Golden State during their two Championships. It's fine if you want ding Durant by saying he only won with an immensely talented lineup that included one HOFer that was basically on his same level - a 1B to his 1A, and he also had two other HOFers in Draymond and Klay. But don't rewrite history to say that Curry was better than Durant in those seasons. In particular, you can't discount the work Durant was doing on defense whereas Curry always had to be protected a bit.

[Stan]

Did you expect people to say yes for a dude who's 36 years old lol

[NZB2323]

How was Tatum clearly the best player on the Celtics last year? Brown won ECF MVP and Finals MVP.

Also, the play by play data shows that Durant had a higher +/- in the 2018 playoffs than Curry. Curry’s playoff numbers were down across the board in 2018 from 2017.

Maybe Curry was the best player in 2017 and Durant was the best player in 2018?

[King4Day]

He did it twice already. And the brief glimpse against Toronto in the finals shows he may have been able to do it a 3rd time had he not been injured.

[Triple M]

How was Tatum clearly the best player on the Celtics last year? Brown won ECF MVP and Finals MVP.

Also, the play by play data shows that Durant had a higher +/- in the 2018 playoffs than Curry. Curry’s playoff numbers were down across the board in 2018 from 2017.

Maybe Curry was the best player in 2017 and Durant was the best player in 2018?

Where in this thread did anyone say he was clearly better? Brown stepped up last year and Tatum struggled with his shot but he was still likely the better player because he had more defensive attention while he led the team in statistical categories.