This is not how you’re supposed to do it. This is not how anyone does it.
There’s something to be said for staying loyal to one team your whole career. Think of literally any legend in NBA history: Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird – even all the way back to Bill Russell. Even those a small step down from the above names – Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Paul Pierce, Patrick Ewing, Dwyane Wade (hopefully). The list goes on. Every name there has their jersey already (or will soon be) hanging from the rafters as a franchise legend, adored and respected not only by fans of their team, but also by fans of basketball as a whole.
And then there’s Kevin Durant.
After playing for a smaller-market team for the first half of his career, the former MVP decided to bolt for a bigger market on a team loaded with superstars.
It’s a story that sounds familiar, because it is. It was LeBron James’ story.
Except there are several key differences. In the summer of 2010, “staying” for LeBron meant continuing to play for a Cavaliers team which had a completely incompetent management that failed to put any stars next to the best player in the world. In LeBron’s final season of his first Cleveland stint in 2009-10, the Cavs – featuring Mo Williams as the team’s second best player – were handily wiped out in the second round by a superior Boston Celtics team.
Honestly -- although James handled the whole situation terribly – looking in hindsight, he made a respectable and justifiable decision by joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Of course, I might not be saying that had The King not wound up completing the Cinderella story by “coming home” after two titles with the Heat, and just recently bringing the city of Cleveland its first major sports title in over 40 years.
But Durant doesn’t even have the same argument to ditch OKC now as LeBron did when ditching Cleveland back in 2010 – where James became the most hated athlete on the face of the Earth for doing so. In fact, the Thunder’s management is quite the opposite of “incompetent” – GM Sam Presti heads one of the most elite front offices in basketball, which is never resting on its laurels and always looking to improve – as evidenced in part by the recent Serge Ibaka trade. Durant, in his final season with the team, was not “handily wiped out by a superior team in the second round” as LeBron was in 2009-10. In fact, OKC triumphed over the title-contending Spurs in the second round this past season before pushing Golden State to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference Finals.
Additionally – and this is perhaps the most significant difference between LeBron’s decision then and Durant’s now – the second best player on his team is not Mo Williams. Rather, Durant’s point guard is fellow top five player Russell Westbrook. As well, the team features a whole host of talented youth: SG Victor Oladipo, PG Cameron Payne, centers Steven Adams and Enes Kanter, PF Domantas Sabonis, and more. Durant isn’t exactly ditching a dumpster fire like LeBron was.
Thus given how much hate LeBron got in 2010, and how his decision was far more justifiable than Durant’s -- I would imagine that Durant is going to be the most hated player in basketball now. Which is unfortunate. He’s not a bad person per se (on the contrary, he actually does a lot of philanthropic work), he’s just a hard-working kid chasing his dream of winning NBA titles. Only that – if he wants to be remembered as an all-time great – he’s doing it the wrong way.
There’s something to be said for staying loyal to one team your whole career. Think of literally any legend in NBA history: Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird – even all the way back to Bill Russell. Even those a small step down from the above names – Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Paul Pierce, Patrick Ewing, Dwyane Wade (hopefully). The list goes on. Every name there has their jersey already (or will soon be) hanging from the rafters as a franchise legend, adored and respected not only by fans of their team, but also by fans of basketball as a whole.
And then there’s Kevin Durant.
After playing for a smaller-market team for the first half of his career, the former MVP decided to bolt for a bigger market on a team loaded with superstars.
It’s a story that sounds familiar, because it is. It was LeBron James’ story.
Except there are several key differences. In the summer of 2010, “staying” for LeBron meant continuing to play for a Cavaliers team which had a completely incompetent management that failed to put any stars next to the best player in the world. In LeBron’s final season of his first Cleveland stint in 2009-10, the Cavs – featuring Mo Williams as the team’s second best player – were handily wiped out in the second round by a superior Boston Celtics team.
Honestly -- although James handled the whole situation terribly – looking in hindsight, he made a respectable and justifiable decision by joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Of course, I might not be saying that had The King not wound up completing the Cinderella story by “coming home” after two titles with the Heat, and just recently bringing the city of Cleveland its first major sports title in over 40 years.
But Durant doesn’t even have the same argument to ditch OKC now as LeBron did when ditching Cleveland back in 2010 – where James became the most hated athlete on the face of the Earth for doing so. In fact, the Thunder’s management is quite the opposite of “incompetent” – GM Sam Presti heads one of the most elite front offices in basketball, which is never resting on its laurels and always looking to improve – as evidenced in part by the recent Serge Ibaka trade. Durant, in his final season with the team, was not “handily wiped out by a superior team in the second round” as LeBron was in 2009-10. In fact, OKC triumphed over the title-contending Spurs in the second round this past season before pushing Golden State to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference Finals.
Additionally – and this is perhaps the most significant difference between LeBron’s decision then and Durant’s now – the second best player on his team is not Mo Williams. Rather, Durant’s point guard is fellow top five player Russell Westbrook. As well, the team features a whole host of talented youth: SG Victor Oladipo, PG Cameron Payne, centers Steven Adams and Enes Kanter, PF Domantas Sabonis, and more. Durant isn’t exactly ditching a dumpster fire like LeBron was.
Thus given how much hate LeBron got in 2010, and how his decision was far more justifiable than Durant’s -- I would imagine that Durant is going to be the most hated player in basketball now. Which is unfortunate. He’s not a bad person per se (on the contrary, he actually does a lot of philanthropic work), he’s just a hard-working kid chasing his dream of winning NBA titles. Only that – if he wants to be remembered as an all-time great – he’s doing it the wrong way.
RSS Feed