Durant II - Durant to GSW

[gustofwind]

Durant is operating at a different level than Lebron. His legacy isn't being compared to Jordan or Shaq, players who won as the man. He could want a title like Drexler or Barkley wanted a title, without ego, just desire. Fact is, he could have won a title this year and been seen as getting a sidekick ring. I don't think that will be a terribly important factor in this.

I see this way as well.

Durant doesn't strike me as a legacy guy at all. He just wants to win and play for a championship.

I don't know what you intended by this comment, so I I'm sorry if I misappropriate your quote. But, it frustrates me when people say "he just wants to win" like it's not a selfish desire. I don't see how joining a team that gives you a shortcut, or in this case perhaps even an absolute monopoly on winning, is any worse or better than joining a team for money. Are you helping making the world a better place by winning more games for some random team? Especially, since you would be winning games for, you know, YOUR team (not some other team).

I "just want to win" is hardly an ethical position.


Honestly, at this point, if the rumors are true that Durant is even seriously considering joining Golden State I've lost a great deal of my respect for him. It would be the most cowardly thing imaginable in professional sports. Maybe more importantly, it would decimate the career of one of the future all time greats, as he would be relegated to being a role player.

Oklahoma City vs Golden State has the potential to be an awesome rivalry for 5 years at least. Instead of helping to fortify his team, Durant says "screw it, I'll just join the competitor and create a monopoly where I don't have to try that hard to win."

If Durant's team was lacking in talent, or if Golden State needed one more star to be great, I wouldn't care. But you don't leave a title contender at the peak of its powers to play for an equal rival to remove competition from the sport. Its absurd. Especially if that rival just won 73 games.

[RexRyan]

I think he's gone. Last contract he sent a text, no big deal. This time it's much different. I think it's Golden State, unfortunately.

[nbafan38]

Didn't Durant say his decision was only being based on Basketball? Why does everyone keep bringing money into this, I don't think that's really a big part of his decision.

it could be but i dont understand the logic why he couldnt make a promise that he would stay in okc for a long term , when horford asked him that.

Yea that seemed odd too that Durant would be recruiting a player to a team while at the same time not agreeing to sign long term if he came there.

[Jedi32]

would be such a punk move to join Okc's western conference rivals.
Ride the coat tails of Steph Curry, with less touches, always one less ring than Curry and co.

Durant tweeted about how cheap ot was when everyone was joining the Heat or the Lakers back in 2010 and now he's jumping on the GSW bandwagon. BS man and he'll lose credibility with the general public.

Stay with OKC for a year and see what Russ does or go to the East and join the greatest franchise in NBA history as THE MAN with the perfect cast of elite role players and a brilliant, genius coach in Bead Stevens.

Don't be a punk KD. Either leave the West and become the man on your own team or resign with OKC and fight the Warriors.
But whatever you do, don't make the b*#% move and jump on Steph Curry's coat tails.

For basketball's sake.

The Lakers aren't in the east.

[mtron929]

Durant is operating at a different level than Lebron. His legacy isn't being compared to Jordan or Shaq, players who won as the man. He could want a title like Drexler or Barkley wanted a title, without ego, just desire. Fact is, he could have won a title this year and been seen as getting a sidekick ring. I don't think that will be a terribly important factor in this.

I see this way as well.

Durant doesn't strike me as a legacy guy at all. He just wants to win and play for a championship.

I don't know what you intended by this comment, so I I'm sorry if I misappropriate your quote. But, it frustrates me when people say "he just wants to win" like it's not a selfish desire. I don't see how joining a team that gives you a shortcut, or in this case perhaps even an absolute monopoly, is any worse or better than joining a team for money. Are you helping making the world a better place by winning more games for some random team? Especially, since you would be winning games for, you know, YOUR team (not some other team).

I "just want to win" is hardly an ethical position.


Honestly, at this point, if the rumors are true that Durant is even seriously considering joining Golden State I've lost a great deal of my respect for him. It would be the most cowardly thing imaginable in professional sports. Maybe more importantly, it would decimate the career of one of the future all time greats, as he would be relegated to being a role player.

Oklahoma City vs Golden State has the potential to be an awesome rivalry for 5 years at least. Instead of helping to fortify his team, Durant says "screw it, I'll just join the competitor and create a monopoly where I don't have to try that hard to win."

If Durant's team was lacking in talent, or if Golden State needed one more star to be great, I wouldn't care. But you don't leave a title contender at the peak of its powers to play for an equal rival to remove competition from the sport. Its absurd.

lol. I don't even care where he goes (I do have a slight preference for Boston since I want the conferences to be more balanced), but this is ridiculous. The "most cowardly thing imaginable in professional sports"? Hyperbole, much? "Relegated to being a role player"? Like Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are role players? An argument can be made that Curry's game weakens during the playoffs and Durant can even be better than Curry come playoff time. This is just pretty sad.

[wco81]

Its not about legacy. It is just that people know the threat of what can happen. Its one thing to create a big 3 of KG-Pierce-Allen or Lebron-Wade-Bosh.
But a 73-9 team adding a superstar like KD? Its over. And nobody in their right mind besides Oaklanders wants that to happen. And if it does happen, everyone will be hatin on KD for a while

Did people hate when Jordan's Bulls were dominating the mid '90s?

Did people hate on Rodman when he joined the Bulls? The Pistons-Bulls rivalry was way more heated than the Warriors-Thunder.

[Cartuse]

The NBA is really weird man... a team wins 73 games, falls 1 game short of a championship and they think about adding a superstar to the team. I mean, really, does the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mean anything to these franchises? I wouldn't TOUCH Golden State's roster right now. In my opinion, adding Durant is way more likely to mess things up. Basketball is not about mathematically adding numbers together...

[JulesWinnfield]

Given that this would effectively end the Thunder as title contenders, while the Warriors would be a clear cut top team in the league it would certainly make the East/West gap even closer. The east was already the deeper conference this year, the west was just stronger at the top, but with the thunder out now as a top tier squad even that aspect is even lessened.

Golden state still needs to keep that team healthy though, and that's still never a guarantee. They could sustain an injury to one of their big 4 and still be a top 3-4 team in the league, but I don't think their margin can sustain that against Cleveland or San Antonio. This is a marathon of a season. Their biggest rivalry is the schedule. Whether it's a random night in January or a puddle of sweat on the floor in round 1 of the playoffs, things can change at any time... They look destined for titles, but you just never know. It's not a video game where you can just turn injuries off in the gameplay settings. Durants foot, Steph's ankles, pure randomness... You can never be sure

[Hero]

Remember when they said KD is different yet here is doing almost the exact same thing LeBron did after his extension finished.

[gustofwind]

I see this way as well.

Durant doesn't strike me as a legacy guy at all. He just wants to win and play for a championship.

I don't know what you intended by this comment, so I I'm sorry if I misappropriate your quote. But, it frustrates me when people say "he just wants to win" like it's not a selfish desire. I don't see how joining a team that gives you a shortcut, or in this case perhaps even an absolute monopoly, is any worse or better than joining a team for money. Are you helping making the world a better place by winning more games for some random team? Especially, since you would be winning games for, you know, YOUR team (not some other team).

I "just want to win" is hardly an ethical position.


Honestly, at this point, if the rumors are true that Durant is even seriously considering joining Golden State I've lost a great deal of my respect for him. It would be the most cowardly thing imaginable in professional sports. Maybe more importantly, it would decimate the career of one of the future all time greats, as he would be relegated to being a role player.

Oklahoma City vs Golden State has the potential to be an awesome rivalry for 5 years at least. Instead of helping to fortify his team, Durant says "screw it, I'll just join the competitor and create a monopoly where I don't have to try that hard to win."

If Durant's team was lacking in talent, or if Golden State needed one more star to be great, I wouldn't care. But you don't leave a title contender at the peak of its powers to play for an equal rival to remove competition from the sport. Its absurd.

lol. I don't even care where he goes (I do have a slight preference for Boston since I want the conferences to be more balanced), but this is ridiculous. The "most cowardly thing imaginable in professional sports"? Hyperbole, much? "Relegated to being a role player"? Like Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are role players? An argument can be made that Curry's game weakens during the playoffs and Durant can even be better than Curry come playoff time. This is just pretty sad.

It never ceases to amaze me when people initiate their arguments with "lol." As if condescending laughter is somehow convincing and not in any way demonstrative of extremely rude behavior.

It seems we see things differently, that's not that exciting. You have a right to your own position. If you took the time to reply, why not argue for your case, instead of laughing at mine?

[robbie84]

would be such a punk move to join Okc's western conference rivals.
Ride the coat tails of Steph Curry, with less touches, always one less ring than Curry and co.

Durant tweeted about how cheap ot was when everyone was joining the Heat or the Lakers back in 2010 and now he's jumping on the GSW bandwagon. BS man and he'll lose credibility with the general public.

Stay with OKC for a year and see what Russ does or go to the East and join the greatest franchise in NBA history as THE MAN with the perfect cast of elite role players and a brilliant, genius coach in Bead Stevens.

Don't be a punk KD. Either leave the West and become the man on your own team or resign with OKC and fight the Warriors.
But whatever you do, don't make the b*#% move and jump on Steph Curry's coat tails.

For basketball's sake.

The Lakers aren't in the east.

What are you stating the obvious for?
Implied superteam reference too much for you?

[JeepCSC]

Did people hate on Rodman when he joined the Bulls? The Pistons-Bulls rivalry was way more heated than the Warriors-Thunder.

Rodman was traded to the Spurs between his Pistons and Bull runs, where he was seen as poison more or less. And the Bulls drafted the two legit superstars on those Bulls teams. This wouldn't be like that at all.

[gustofwind]

Remember when they said KD is different yet here is doing almost the exact same thing LeBron did after his extension finished.

LeBron only teamed up with other stars; he didn't join an already historically dominant team. The equivalent would be LeBron joining the Lakers that year.

I know some disagree, but to me the difference between the two situations is light years apart.

[James Takote]

Come to Toronto KD. We got a spot for you on our D-league team you scrub

[wildvikeswolves]

Not GSW Durant.. That would be no fun

[Bandeazyy]

The NBA is really weird man... a team wins 73 games, falls 1 game short of a championship and they think about adding a superstar to the team. I mean, really, does the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mean anything to these franchises? I wouldn't TOUCH Golden State's roster right now. In my opinion, adding Durant is way more likely to mess things up. Basketball is not about mathematically adding numbers together...

So, using your logic we shouldn't go for one of the best player in the league right now when we could have a chance to bring him to the bay just because we were 1 win away from the chip and have the 73 win record? We should just make Harrison our highest earner just because of the saying of "if it ain't broke don't fix it?" Makes no sense at all

[Jedi32]

Rings are obviously a big deal when it comes to legacy (I'd argue way too big a deal) but not all rings are created equally. I just don't see the path for Durant ever making the Warriors his team. When Lebron joined Wade he was better than Wade, younger than Wade, he was never going to surpass Wade in the hearts of Miami fans, but the path was clear for him to make that his squad from a basketball perspective. There was the tug and pull in year 1, but the transfer was inevitable. Durant is joining a better player than him, same age, who just led this team to 73 wins and was a minute away from back to back titles. Have fun with sidekick rings, it's not going to boost that legacy as much as he would hope

But beyond the whole 73 wins and near back to back stuff, it's the whole "can't beat em join em" aspect that's so unsavory. This team beat you. I thought Draymond took Steven Adams balls, not durants....

Folks won't care how he wins and even realgm will have to judge him on how he plays. If he put up 30/7/5 on great averages then realgm would be the biggest hypocrites in the world if they didn't give him his respect. Honestly it just sounds like folks are scared that the Warriors will become what the heat were supposed to be if Durant went there. Folks dogged the Thunder for trading Harden, and folks dogg Goat brook all the time saying how he's holding Durant back and he's just a chucker who's stats are overrated. Yet when he wants to leave he's doing something bad? When lebron left folks kept saying he didn't owe the cavs anything and free agency was created so players can have the right to play where they wanted. Durant has the right to play where he wants.

[FNQ]

Remember when they said KD is different yet here is doing almost the exact same thing LeBron did after his extension finished.

When's his televised decision scheduled?

He's meeting with teams, then taking a whole 24 hours to make the most important decision of his life. I think that's pretty different.

[baldur]

Come to Toronto KD. We got a spot for you on our D-league team you scrub

you would cause a permanent crash on realgm, if he ever would come to toronto.

[Hero]

Remember when they said KD is different yet here is doing almost the exact same thing LeBron did after his extension finished.

LeBron only teamed up with other stars; he didn't join an already historically dominant team. The equivalent would be LeBron joining the Lakers that year.

I know some disagree, but to me the difference between the two situations is light years apart.

Yep.

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