Unless you've been living under a rock since last June, you know that Durant will miss the upcoming season while he recovers from a ruptured Achilles. 'KD' sustained the injury in game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals. In the aftermath many people, including former teammate Andre Iguodala, questioned whether the Golden State Warriors pressured him to come back from a calf injury he sustained earlier in the playoffs too soon. At the time of his return, the Warriors were down 3 games to 1 to the Toronto Raptors and needed some sort of spark to help ignite a comeback. They would win the contest but eventually, lose the series.
Before this injury, Durant was widely regarded as one of the most disliked players in the NBA by fans. This was somewhat hard to understand because he is also considered the best or second best player in the league depending on who you ask. When his career is done, he will likely go down as one of the top 10 players in NBA history.
For those who may not know, Durant is a highly skilled at what he does. You could say he’s like a basketball assassin with an unlimited skillset at his disposal. Standing at a legit 6'9, he can create his shot from anywhere on the floor, moves and dribbles like a point guard and is a elite level defender, a combination the NBA hadn't seen prior to his arrival. With all the physical tools and athletic talent he has, it was destined for him to rack up all the accomplishments he's achieved thus far: 2x time NBA Champion, 2x time Finals MVP, 10x NBA All-Star, 4x NBA scoring champion, made the All-NBA team 9 times (1st team 6 times), 2 time All-Star game MVP, 2008 Rookie of the Year, consensus National College Player of the Year (the first person to win the award as a freshman and the only player to win the award in consensus fashion) and last but certainly not least, a NBA MVP award, in which his acceptance speech would go down in history as one of the best ever and capturing the hearts of many around the world.
One may ask why a player so talented and accomplished was so disliked...
Well in the summer of 2016 Kevin made the decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that drafted him and he spent his first nine seasons with, to join the Warriors. Many criticized the move because they felt the Warriors were already stacked and adding a player of Durant's caliber would unfairly tilt the competitive balance in Golden State's favor. The same critics also felt Durant was taking the 'easy' way out by joining the team that just prevented him to going to the Finals as opposed to wanting to dethrone them after being so 'close' to doing so.
To further complicate the situation, many felt as though he left one of his perceived best friends and former teammate Russell Westbrook lying high and dry. Durant and Westbrook played together for 8 seasons, developing a on court chemistry between 2 elite players on the same team that the league hadn't seen since Karl Malone and John Stockton played together with the Utah Jazz. Off the court, while they weren't best friends, they formed a friendship that clearly extended past the playing court. Many people will never forget how Durant called outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban "an idiot" after he paid Durant a compliment but slighted Westbrook at the same time.
Durant's decision to leave a championship ready OKC team definitely left a sting with many, including Westbrook. Shortly after the decision, Westbrook posted a picture of cupcakes on his Instagram account. While on the surface it was an ode to Independence Day, it was later revealed that this was a diss to the former by the latter. They have also had on court spats and traded jabs in the media, but have since reconciled. They may not be as close as they once were, but they are on speaking/friendly terms again and are presumably working to rebuild their friendship.
Many people felt as though while Durant was extremely talented, his inability to win a championship is what held him below 'King James' as the league's best player. Durant put that argument to bed when he won his first championship, capped off with a Finals MVP and one of the most iconic moments of his illustrious career thus far and signified a 'changing of the guard' in the NBA's pecking order for the league's best player -- a game clinching 3-pointer that swam through the net like a shark in the ocean over the outreached hand of LeBron James.
Durant is a somewhat misunderstood person. He wants to give off the impression that he doesn't care what people think of him, but at the same time he spends time on social media defending what he does and says. No one can forget the infamous "burner account" saga. He also wants people to not care about the whole ordeal about the fashion in which he left OKC but in all honesty, as one of the biggest Kevin Durant fans, even I had a hard time trying to justify let alone defend that decision. It was almost as if he were leaving a bullied friend to join the bullies beating them both up.
His decision may have seemed that way, but the truth is, Durant was a free agent and THE WARRIORS PURSUED HIS SERVICES, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Just as much as people say he needed the Warriors to win (more) championships, they needed him just as much if not more. Does anyone remember the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history that the Cleveland Cavs pulled off in 2016? That Warriors team did beat the Cavs the year before, but Cleveland were missing their 2nd and 3rd best players that year. In the rematch the next year, Cleveland won. Golden State knew they couldn't beat that Cavs team with their current roster and needed to do something to get the upper edge. And they did.Any team in the league was free to sign him. The Warriors just made the best pitch and presented the best opportunity for him. And he accepted it.
What person wouldn't want to have the best chance at winning a championship while also rubbing networking and building relationships with some of the most brilliant and intelligent people in Silicon Valley (San Francisco/Oakland/Bay Area) who shaping the future of our world and putting himself in position for investment opportunities that would potentially make him more money than he would make during his playing career? Simply put, that’s just too good of an opportunity to pass up in exchange to remain ‘loyal’ to a sports franchise that can decide to release or trade you at any given moment for any reason.
Furthermore, as much as people like Russell Westbrook (myself included), people have to come to the realization that his style of play is NOT conducive to winning a championship. Kevin Durant just realized that before everyone else did. In the years since he and Westbrook have split, Durant has won 2 titles. Westbrook has won a league MVP and cemented his place amongst the current batch of elite in the league, but has also not been out of the 1st round of the playoffs.
Fast forward to the summer of 2019, after the Achilles injury in the Finals. Durant had a decision to make: Does he stay with the team that some feel he 'rode their wave' to championships and continue to be teammates with Draymond Green (whom he had a very nasty on court exchange with earlier in the season that some speculate made Durant feel alienated -- which Durant later confirmed) and also potentially threatened his career by rushing him back from a injury? Or does he go somewhere else to prove that the championships with the Warriors wasn't a 'fluke'? We now know that KD chose the second option, teaming with two of his better friends among NBA players Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan in Brooklyn to play for the Nets.
The decision has made many come back around and regain a considerable amount of respect they previously lost. Some was already gained back the night he was injured when he decided to play in that fateful game 5 of the NBA Finals. As mentioned earlier, the Warriors were down 3 games to 1 and needed a serious spark. Durant provided that. Before going down with the Achilles injury, Durant scored 11 points in 12 minutes of playing time. Who knows what could've happened if he didn't get hurt. Maybe the Warriors win that series and Durant might still be a Warrior. But things didn't play out that way so we'll never truly know.
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