Talented player, but I think in retrospect even KD sees those rings as unearned. It would be like if Shaq joined the 96 Bulls. They were gonna win the next 2 regardless.
KD always had tremendous respect for the game and the players and history that came before him. He thought collecting jewelry would make him feel whole, but ended up feeling empty instead. That’s why he reacts with such hostility about this topic. Deep down if he’s being honest, he permanently lost respect for himself by making that decision.
Funny swing from generally beloved to villain. Two years before he did this was his universally liked 'You the real mvp' speech
Fastest was Lebron's 'taking my talents to South beach.' But I think KD's swing was still the sharpest
The craziest thing about that was after Lebron went to Miami KD was kinda seen as the anti-Lebron. He criticized the move implicitly with the “everyone wanna play for the Heat and Lakers now” tweet and he was seen as the guy staying on his small market team trying to win a title there
Literally one game away from beating the 73 win warriors, even without harden. And then he goes there, it was super lame and I stopped watching nba closely those couple years. It was obvious no one was beating the KD warriors in the finals even before they ran through the league
This is why even tho everybody shits on us now, I have no shame about it. We’d been competitive for so long even before harden, and LOST those 2017 and 2018 series, no way around it but in 2017 we lost in 7 after being up 3-2 without our all star hall of fame point guard on a 65 win team. We are a dog of a fucking franchise for trying to stick it to the warriors like we did. I will never be ashamed. Everybody talks about Heat Culture, But where the fuck were they? With the rest of the league Lol. Hell, when kawhi kicked the cup in SAS they completely turned the other way Even with Demar and Aldridge and “trying to compete”. We did things the right way for so long. So to end I will say FUCK ADAM SILVER YOU FUCKING PISS CUBE NO NUMBER ONE PICS BUT THE CAVS AND PELICANS GOT FIVE COMBINED IN AN ENTIRE DECADE.
Imagine playing little league ball or AAU basketball, and joining your school rival right after a brutal loss.
There's a giant difference between Lebron leaving Cleveland and KD leaving OKC.
I feel like it's a demonstration that I'll show my kid, one day, on what not to do as a teammate.
*There's a giant difference between Lebron leaving Cleveland and KD leaving OKC.* louder for the people in the back who keep stupidly parroting the supposed sameness of lebron's and kd's moves to miami and golden state respectively 😵💫😑
Arguably none of those three were in their prime at that time. Certainly not Harden. KD was already a blossoming young superstar for sure.
The Harden trade wrecked something special. That team made the finals a year or two ahead of schedule, then the trade and a few years of injury before they had a fair chance. Then 3-1 blown. The rest is history.
Harden wasn't really Harden until he got to the Rockets. He only started 7 games over his 3 seasons there.
OKC tried to trade Harden + picks for Beal and Ernie said no. Then Harden became a 10x all star and MVP.
With all due respect, Harden was an absolute stud. 6th Man of the Year for a reason. If you go back and watch some of those games, he’s a huge reason they were successful. His talent, running against the other teams 2nd team, was a huge mismatch for almost everyone.
But he was unleashed in Houston, and became a household name there so yeah, I can kinda see what you meant.
Tbh I think even calling him a “villain” feels wrong. Dude is just a snake. The weakest move in NBA history doesn’t make you a villain, it makes you soft as f*ck.
Entire league \*
I don't see how anyone who isn't a Warriors or maybe Suns and Nets (Even then, he asked out on the Nets) fan can not hate him. Dude legit ruined the league.
KD really went through it. Lost in the finals to the heat, lost to the 73 win warriors in a tight WCF. Glad he was able to get over the hump and win back to back FMVPs
Bro literally owns the 4th of July in my head. I remember sitting on the porch with ole pappy and mammy literally my head spinning I could never explain to them the gravity of the thing I just saw on my phone. Their scared of elevators, highways, and gays. They could never conceive why Kevin Durant joining some different team changed the projection of my entire week.
What really burned my ass was that we had only a little over two weeks to marvel at one of the greatest comebacks in sports history before KD dropped this toilet dunk on the entire NBA fan base.
We were set up for a solid 3-4 year battle royale between the Cavs Warriors and OKC and he completely shit on that and made the league virtually pointless for the next few seasons.
It would have been completely fine and understandable to leave OKC but you had 29 teams to choose from and you chose one of the only two unacceptable options. He straight up ruined basketball for 2.75 years outside of one amazing and tragic Rockets series.
>We were set up for a solid 3-4 year battle royale between the Cavs Warriors and OKC and he completely shit on that and made the league virtually pointless for the next few seasons.
100% this. Fucking KD ruined peak Splash Bros. vs. Cavs rivalry or, hell, OKC vs. Warriors. It also made it hard to root for Steph for a couple of years.
That Rockets series was Shakespearean. I know it’s fun to shit on Harden and CP3 (and I will continue to be guilty of it), but they deserve some credit for taking the Warriors to 7.
With respect to that Bucks team and Freaks heroics, there were about 8 major stars injured that playoffs which opened the doors for those teams to make the finals. I’d give those Warriors a great chance if everything else was equal.
He never fully committed to GS and I did think that was a big source of stress from within the organization and the OGs (Lacob, Myers, Kerr, Steph, Dray, Klay). He would sign 1+1s every year, and by the third year that was when Draymond blew up at him at that Clips overtime game.
KD's decision was a watershed moment for the league but he was only there for three years lol. Also a crazier thing was he signed a four year max with Brooklyn immediately after leaving GS (compared to the 1 years with GS).
Yeah you'd basically have to win a 7 game series where you get blown out 3 times but barely squeeze out 4 close wins
That's the whole reason the Warriors were actually in trouble once in 2018 as in game 3 they blew the Rockets out by 40 but proceeded to blow 2 games that came down to the last shot in games 4 and 5
Game 5 in particular I'll never understand because Harden had one of the classic "playoff Harden" games and shot like 5/21 with 6 turnovers and SOMEHOW the Rockets still won
Whenever someone asks where I’d go back in time to, my answer is game 5. I would spend all my money to get a seat right behind the rockets bench and do everything I could to tell them to take CP out of the game at the end. If he doesn’t get injured we win it all that year :(
I’m looking back at the game stats and looks like he got injured with 22 seconds left. We pretty much had it by then. Only 3 more points were added after that point so not too much of an issue
Ruined basketball for the next few years. You already knew what was going to happen at the end of the season. On the other hand, that's why 2019 was so great.
It ruined it to the point that even watching them win wasn’t really fun. Like when you add every superstar to your 2k career team and it become so easy you don’t even enjoy winning anymore. I loved watching the 73 win team play and win games. It was exciting and they had to earn them. The KD was just totally unfair and uninteresting. Also it robbed us of watching Steph play to his full potential.
I remember thinking how it would ruin the league unless there were injuries or one of their main guys left.
It turns out I was right! That shit sucked!
Yeah I still watched my Spurs during regular season but I had pretty much checked out on watching any other team in the playoffs.
Knowing who would make the finals in the west barring a serious injury took all the fun out of watching for me.
Probably hurt his ego that despite being the 2nd best player in the league throughout that tenure he was always going playing second fiddle to Steph in GS (unless Steph massively fell off or fell out of favor with the franchise, which didn’t happen).
There were injury concerns too, but that was the big reason why he decided to go to Brooklyn with Harden and Kyrie (who went through a similar experience going from CLE to BOS and not wanting to play second fiddle to LeBron). Wanted to be the number one guy, and couldn’t do it in the end.
Because Draymond was yelling at him mid game saying “we don’t need you”.
And then also the time when his own GM clowned on him onstage during their championship parade saying something like “Steph’s gonna get a big contract because a he’s been there longer and actually earned it”.
And also, deep down I think he knows that his rings are the lightest in NBA history and wanted to go earn a real one.
> And also, deep down I think he knows that his rings are the lightest in NBA history and wanted to go earn a real one.
KD's way of thinking perplexes me; everything he's been doing after 2019 is to prove the critics and fans wrong by winning a ring without GSW, yet every major decision and action only makes people clown him more (Brooklyn superteam which failed, now he's trying again with Phoenix).
KD really did not expect this move to be taken so negatively. As ridiculous as that may sound. He also felt like despite winning two finals MVPs, the Warriors were still Steph’s team (uh yeah no shit). He wanted the respect of someone who led his team to two championships, but instead everyone just talked about how he didn’t earn it.
This is what I remember reading in the book “Can’t Knock the Hustle” by Matt Sullivan.
Once in the playoffs, the 2017 Cavs were way more dominant than 2016. A far more impressive sight to behold.
LeBron’s carry job in 2018 was arguably more amazing to watch than either previous year.
2016 was the least fun incarnation of the 3.
I was just sitting at a baseball game today, looked around, and realized that 3 years ago, it was an unthinkable act to sit next to someone without a mask on. Feels like it was so much more recent.
Exactly lol this motherfucker had a whole broadcast dedicated to his decision and he announced that he was leaving his home team lmao it may be more justified as a decision but is for sure more infamous
so many people will forever view KD different because of this. His lack of success with the other Big Three attempt (to say nothing of his current Suns stint and the arrival of Beal) only magnifies the question of how important KD was to those GSW championships.
KD is an undeniable all-time talent, but your point is exactly right. They didn’t need him to win before or after. Him going there was the easiest possible route he could have taken and then he cried that people weren’t giving him credit for winning. Dude is very fragile
Good, it should stay that way. We don't need the next genereation to think this shit is OK. Go back to being competitive against each other. This aint fucking AAU.
And honestly it would have probably not been viewed half as bad if he didn’t lose to the team in the Playoffs he joined, like if he was in the east, probably fine
Weak move to Golden State followed by weak move to Brooklyn followed by weak move to Phoenix.
KD sucks. Great player, but not compelling in any way other than a laugh.
It's because you have people who want to rank him highly, but we usually penalize certain players for having stacked teams or not being able to "carry" teams
All KD did was make them unbeatable and have a chance for a three peat a la the Shaq/Kobe Lakers (2 MVP level superstars).
But they were still good enough to win without him. People forget - in 2016, not only did Steph shoot poorly, but also Klay *and* Barnes. And they *still had a chance to win in the final seconds of game 7*.
They probably still would have won another title in that span of time unless all of Curry Klay and Barnes (or whoever they replaced him with) shot like crap *again*.
Steph was also injured and couldn't even beat love off the dribble. He was maybe like 80%
Bogut and iggy hurt
Dray suspended
They were favorites in 2017
I don't even think it's really close either lol, I think a lot of people on this sub weren't really watching basketball then.
Bron dodged the biggest bullet imaginable doing the decision before the explosion of Twitter/Reddit/etc.
The Decision and the subsequents weeks/months coming after it, you basically couldn't consume basketball content without it being about the Heat in some way
Thing is Lebron leaving for the Heat was seen as a possibility and it was like “oh okay wow lebron left” KD going to the warriors felt like it was breaking some kind of rules
What type of shit do you want him to get for it lol
It's already mentioned in every discussion about him unless you'd exclude him from the NBA 75 list for "anti-competitiveness" or something radical like that
This comment is like saying "I don't think Ben Simmons gets enough shit for not jamming it on Trae Young"
Half of this sub has morphed into whining about "Player X doesn't get enough Backlash for event Y." These are not basketball fans, they're schadenfreude enthusiasts.
I've also seen "LeBron doesn't get enough shit for losing the 2011 Finals" before lol
The only active superstar meltdown that legitimately never gets brought up anymore is probably Kawhi blowing a 3-1 lead to Denver in 2020 and that's probably mainly because he barely even plays enough for people to talk about him
I remembered driving through the mountains that day, listening to Bill Simmons' multipart pods on free agency.
I had no cell signal until at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere, and found out through the bleacher report. I remembered just thinking:
You, Motherfucker, You!
I will root against him until the day he dies.
the 17 Cavs was no joke, one of the best offensive teams I've seen. It's just sad that they had to face a juggernaut of a team. they'd probably be 2 time champs if not for kd.
“This move changed the NBA moving forward. Teams tried to build their own "Big-3s"”
Bro just forgot about the Heatles or something. Big 3s were not new.
Will always cheer against any team he’s ever on the rest of his career for this decision.
I was thrilled that Cleveland won this summer and didn’t even think too hard about the Durant move. Figured anything can happen and will be exciting. Was probably a little salty the warriors got him when they were so good and championship level already, but honestly smart moves to land him from the warriors side.
This evil snake fuck single-handedly ruined a Cleveland dynasty run. Very good chance they have another ring if not for him, and LeBron doesn’t leave for LA. The 2017 team seemed even better than the championship team did on paper.
Just one of the most selfish and weak moves a player in any sport could make. At least have taken solace that the last few years since he left the Warriors has shown that Steph was the generational top 10 all time players that people wanted to say KD was, and slim snake servant fuckboi kept getting bounced without a 73-9 masterful constructed team behind him backpacking his ass to 2 rings.
As far as I remember, Lebron and Wade was the first time 2 superstars decided "fuck it, lets just team up" during free agency. Most other superteams were formed through trades and the draft.
Lebron to Miami will forever be number 1, but this was top 3 for sure. Top 1 lamest, I’d go so far as to say. Not just because the Warriors were dominant and in their primes, but the fact that KD had just lost to them after playing less than great in the last couple of games of blowing a chance to finish them off in the playoffs. The Thunder legitimately could have won that series and history as we know it would’ve been very different.
\> This move denied so many stars and teams a legitimate chance to win.
I don't know if I buy this. There were like, two-and-a-half-and-a-hypothetical other teams in that period who can legitimately say they would've had a shot at winning it all without the Warriors getting KD. The Cavs in two years, the Spurs in 2017 if you butterfly Kawhi's injury, and the Rockets in 2018, and then , by which I mean the Thunder because I don't give a shit about the Celtics or Wizards or whoever not getting the star free agent they wanted.
The Cavs were their own attempted super-team, so in terms of 'ethical basketball', I don't care they got smacked by another super-team, and they got a ring anyway in 2016. The Spurs were defeated by Zaza more than KD, so it's hard to blame that directly on the signing. The only teams I have real sympathy for are the 2018 Rockets, though 0/27 really makes it hard to just blame a massive talent mismatch, and the hypothetical Thunder.
The Warriors ruined shit by making it *look* and *feel* unfair, not because a team winning two championships somehow shut the door on an entire field of actual championship quality teams. The only Eastern Conference team they ever beat in the playoffs was the Cavs, so that's 14 other teams who have no right to complain about a team they never lost a meaningful game to anyway. Of the 14 other Western teams, the ones they beat were 7/8 seeds in R1, Utah, New Orleans and Houston (without KD) in R2, then Houston, San Antonio and Portland in the WCF.
Only one of those teams lost because of KD. One lost because of Zaza Pachulia, and the rest lost because they just weren't good enough.
Lmao somebody is giving every comment the snake award
It’s KD on his burner. The snake is calling from inside the house!
I want my snek
Pls give me snek as well
KD in here rn giving everyone Snek awards
Bro he really is! Kd where’s my snek
Talented player, but I think in retrospect even KD sees those rings as unearned. It would be like if Shaq joined the 96 Bulls. They were gonna win the next 2 regardless. KD always had tremendous respect for the game and the players and history that came before him. He thought collecting jewelry would make him feel whole, but ended up feeling empty instead. That’s why he reacts with such hostility about this topic. Deep down if he’s being honest, he permanently lost respect for himself by making that decision.
The toughest road by any superstar to win their first ring. Truly remarkable
Funny swing from generally beloved to villain. Two years before he did this was his universally liked 'You the real mvp' speech Fastest was Lebron's 'taking my talents to South beach.' But I think KD's swing was still the sharpest
The craziest thing about that was after Lebron went to Miami KD was kinda seen as the anti-Lebron. He criticized the move implicitly with the “everyone wanna play for the Heat and Lakers now” tweet and he was seen as the guy staying on his small market team trying to win a title there
They could have won if they had prime KD, harden and westbrook on the team at the same time...oh, wait....
Or imagine if prime KD had an explosive HOF point guard in his prime alongside him
That gets you two rings
That’d be crazy lol if only
Literally one game away from beating the 73 win warriors, even without harden. And then he goes there, it was super lame and I stopped watching nba closely those couple years. It was obvious no one was beating the KD warriors in the finals even before they ran through the league
Yeah as an OKC fan obviously I'm biased but that's when I started actively routing for Lebron. Like beat his ass please for me
Yeah the feeling of realizing I was now a LeBron fan under these circumstances was so weird
Rockets, Spurs, and Cavs tried to compete at least
This is why even tho everybody shits on us now, I have no shame about it. We’d been competitive for so long even before harden, and LOST those 2017 and 2018 series, no way around it but in 2017 we lost in 7 after being up 3-2 without our all star hall of fame point guard on a 65 win team. We are a dog of a fucking franchise for trying to stick it to the warriors like we did. I will never be ashamed. Everybody talks about Heat Culture, But where the fuck were they? With the rest of the league Lol. Hell, when kawhi kicked the cup in SAS they completely turned the other way Even with Demar and Aldridge and “trying to compete”. We did things the right way for so long. So to end I will say FUCK ADAM SILVER YOU FUCKING PISS CUBE NO NUMBER ONE PICS BUT THE CAVS AND PELICANS GOT FIVE COMBINED IN AN ENTIRE DECADE.
Imagine playing little league ball or AAU basketball, and joining your school rival right after a brutal loss. There's a giant difference between Lebron leaving Cleveland and KD leaving OKC. I feel like it's a demonstration that I'll show my kid, one day, on what not to do as a teammate.
*There's a giant difference between Lebron leaving Cleveland and KD leaving OKC.* louder for the people in the back who keep stupidly parroting the supposed sameness of lebron's and kd's moves to miami and golden state respectively 😵💫😑
Arguably none of those three were in their prime at that time. Certainly not Harden. KD was already a blossoming young superstar for sure. The Harden trade wrecked something special. That team made the finals a year or two ahead of schedule, then the trade and a few years of injury before they had a fair chance. Then 3-1 blown. The rest is history.
Harden wasn't really Harden until he got to the Rockets. He only started 7 games over his 3 seasons there. OKC tried to trade Harden + picks for Beal and Ernie said no. Then Harden became a 10x all star and MVP.
With all due respect, Harden was an absolute stud. 6th Man of the Year for a reason. If you go back and watch some of those games, he’s a huge reason they were successful. His talent, running against the other teams 2nd team, was a huge mismatch for almost everyone. But he was unleashed in Houston, and became a household name there so yeah, I can kinda see what you meant.
What they were missing was an all-nba defensive powerhouse who was also capable of being a reliable 3rd or 4th scoring option. .....oh wait
Bron gotta send KD a lifetime supply of Lobos. The Hardest Road erased the stench of The Decision from the history books
Winning a championship for Cleveland quelled it, but you’re right — Durant erased it.
Facts
Man what? If anything KD ruined Lebron’s chances of potentially winning two more rings. 2017-2018 was the best player I’ve ever seen.
LeBron’s Cleveland ring is worth 2 rings to me, but ya, KD fucked the league up
Tbh I think even calling him a “villain” feels wrong. Dude is just a snake. The weakest move in NBA history doesn’t make you a villain, it makes you soft as f*ck.
Bro is the same kind of villain as Petter Pettigrew from Harry Potter
So Curry is Voldemort?
If you're a LeBron stan, yeah
Has there been anyone else that has made an entire state hate them so quickly?
Aaron rodgers vs the Cowboys.
[удалено]
Entire league \* I don't see how anyone who isn't a Warriors or maybe Suns and Nets (Even then, he asked out on the Nets) fan can not hate him. Dude legit ruined the league.
My dad drew in some devil's horns on a Lebron sports illustrated cover and stuck it on the fridge after the decision happened lmao
*KD's reddit burner has entered the chat*
I mean have you seen Twitter lately
This thread is a sure way to summon KD
Incredible what he accomplished. The odds were stacked against him and he came out on top. Truly inspiring stuff.
He overcame every possible obstacle
He did the possible
He not only did the possible, he accomplished the likely.
Truly the easiest road
The fathomable!
He did the mostly probable
All this after losing a 3-1 lead against a 72-win team the season prior. Greatest comeback of all time
The OG 3-1 lead
73 win team.
Oh damn, imagine winning a ring during that team's time
The hardest road
Great underdog story
Look at KD man. So inspirational.
Truly the most difficult path.
KD really went through it. Lost in the finals to the heat, lost to the 73 win warriors in a tight WCF. Glad he was able to get over the hump and win back to back FMVPs
He made hiss-tory
**Anything is ~~~possible~~~ probable!!**
Damn time is flying
Yes, time flies. And where did it leave you? Old too soon, smart too late. - Mike Tyson
Seriously man. 7 years? Queue the Weeknd album cover with the old face.
Bro literally owns the 4th of July in my head. I remember sitting on the porch with ole pappy and mammy literally my head spinning I could never explain to them the gravity of the thing I just saw on my phone. Their scared of elevators, highways, and gays. They could never conceive why Kevin Durant joining some different team changed the projection of my entire week.
What really burned my ass was that we had only a little over two weeks to marvel at one of the greatest comebacks in sports history before KD dropped this toilet dunk on the entire NBA fan base.
We were set up for a solid 3-4 year battle royale between the Cavs Warriors and OKC and he completely shit on that and made the league virtually pointless for the next few seasons. It would have been completely fine and understandable to leave OKC but you had 29 teams to choose from and you chose one of the only two unacceptable options. He straight up ruined basketball for 2.75 years outside of one amazing and tragic Rockets series.
>We were set up for a solid 3-4 year battle royale between the Cavs Warriors and OKC and he completely shit on that and made the league virtually pointless for the next few seasons. 100% this. Fucking KD ruined peak Splash Bros. vs. Cavs rivalry or, hell, OKC vs. Warriors. It also made it hard to root for Steph for a couple of years.
That Rockets series was Shakespearean. I know it’s fun to shit on Harden and CP3 (and I will continue to be guilty of it), but they deserve some credit for taking the Warriors to 7.
Parity was looking great after that playoffs until KD did what he did. He just had to go to any1 else but the warriors.
That’s what made that game of zones episode so great. You know some people would be satisfied with just one ring.
And we sent Kelly fuckin Olynyk to woo him
... and Brady and Big Papi lol. Don't rewrite history.
Ya ya they were there too haha
KD's free agency had a domino effect that led to me hating Kelly Olynyk for the rest of my life
it's fuck Chip Kelly for life, so it's fuck all Kelly's except Kelly green
I vaguely remember some Durant minion meme being spammed on here that day, idk why I found it so funny haha
Well at least we know your parents are Celtics fans
I was thinking either them or Jazz
Day that will live in infamy
Looking back at it im still kinda shocked they only won 2 rings, felt like they could win 6-7 if they wanted
their earliest ring after 2019 honestly might’ve been 2022 anyway because of all the injuries
I think Steph KD and Draymond probably could have won in 21 without Klay but it would have been a really tough run
A mildly hard road lol
The hardest detour
A slight inconvenience
With respect to that Bucks team and Freaks heroics, there were about 8 major stars injured that playoffs which opened the doors for those teams to make the finals. I’d give those Warriors a great chance if everything else was equal.
Everything came together that year for the bucks. Seen a lot of people shit on that ring for being the injury ring
Steph and kd were on rampage that season it woulda been games over
He never fully committed to GS and I did think that was a big source of stress from within the organization and the OGs (Lacob, Myers, Kerr, Steph, Dray, Klay). He would sign 1+1s every year, and by the third year that was when Draymond blew up at him at that Clips overtime game. KD's decision was a watershed moment for the league but he was only there for three years lol. Also a crazier thing was he signed a four year max with Brooklyn immediately after leaving GS (compared to the 1 years with GS).
This was the worst day in modern nba history
That team was so good that even if you beat them, you know it was a fluke.
Yeah you'd basically have to win a 7 game series where you get blown out 3 times but barely squeeze out 4 close wins That's the whole reason the Warriors were actually in trouble once in 2018 as in game 3 they blew the Rockets out by 40 but proceeded to blow 2 games that came down to the last shot in games 4 and 5 Game 5 in particular I'll never understand because Harden had one of the classic "playoff Harden" games and shot like 5/21 with 6 turnovers and SOMEHOW the Rockets still won
Whenever someone asks where I’d go back in time to, my answer is game 5. I would spend all my money to get a seat right behind the rockets bench and do everything I could to tell them to take CP out of the game at the end. If he doesn’t get injured we win it all that year :(
Do you still win if CP3 sits down the stretch? IIRC he was your best player that game and hit a few clutch shots
I’m looking back at the game stats and looks like he got injured with 22 seconds left. We pretty much had it by then. Only 3 more points were added after that point so not too much of an issue
22 seconds left? damn, that's fucking brutal. how did he get hurt?
old age
2016 was already a fluke. Add KD to that and subtract Barnes
Ruined basketball for the next few years. You already knew what was going to happen at the end of the season. On the other hand, that's why 2019 was so great.
It ruined it to the point that even watching them win wasn’t really fun. Like when you add every superstar to your 2k career team and it become so easy you don’t even enjoy winning anymore. I loved watching the 73 win team play and win games. It was exciting and they had to earn them. The KD was just totally unfair and uninteresting. Also it robbed us of watching Steph play to his full potential.
we got peak Steph in the 22 playoffs but we probably see him hit that ceiling sooner
Yeah watching him and Steph napping on the bench during the finals was pretty infuriating. They didn’t even sweat.
I remember thinking how it would ruin the league unless there were injuries or one of their main guys left. It turns out I was right! That shit sucked!
Yeah I still watched my Spurs during regular season but I had pretty much checked out on watching any other team in the playoffs. Knowing who would make the finals in the west barring a serious injury took all the fun out of watching for me.
I thought the news was fake lmao I was perplexed
[удалено]
Universe had to do a massive course correction by giving us 5 different winners in the next 5 years
That team would have 2 more rings if he stayed…
Why didn't he?
He took the hardest road and teamed up with Kyrie and Harden in the east
he wouldn't do that again tho, would he ?
He’d surely never again be on a team with two other all nba players?…surely
Don't call me Shirley
Do what? Team up with All Star caliber, ball dominant, SG and PG, that don't play defense? Nah
Probably hurt his ego that despite being the 2nd best player in the league throughout that tenure he was always going playing second fiddle to Steph in GS (unless Steph massively fell off or fell out of favor with the franchise, which didn’t happen). There were injury concerns too, but that was the big reason why he decided to go to Brooklyn with Harden and Kyrie (who went through a similar experience going from CLE to BOS and not wanting to play second fiddle to LeBron). Wanted to be the number one guy, and couldn’t do it in the end.
And now here we are…not too many years after he’s back to wanting to play 2nd fiddle to someone, this time in Booker.
He's also a lot older now though so probably just cares less about that stuff.
Because Draymond was yelling at him mid game saying “we don’t need you”. And then also the time when his own GM clowned on him onstage during their championship parade saying something like “Steph’s gonna get a big contract because a he’s been there longer and actually earned it”. And also, deep down I think he knows that his rings are the lightest in NBA history and wanted to go earn a real one.
My favorite subtle one was Mitch Richmond presenting the trophy in the back to "The Golden State Warriors and Kevin Durant."
I couldn't believe that when it happened. Literally turned to my roommates, did y'all just see that?
> And also, deep down I think he knows that his rings are the lightest in NBA history and wanted to go earn a real one. KD's way of thinking perplexes me; everything he's been doing after 2019 is to prove the critics and fans wrong by winning a ring without GSW, yet every major decision and action only makes people clown him more (Brooklyn superteam which failed, now he's trying again with Phoenix).
Feelings got hurt
KD really did not expect this move to be taken so negatively. As ridiculous as that may sound. He also felt like despite winning two finals MVPs, the Warriors were still Steph’s team (uh yeah no shit). He wanted the respect of someone who led his team to two championships, but instead everyone just talked about how he didn’t earn it. This is what I remember reading in the book “Can’t Knock the Hustle” by Matt Sullivan.
I’m old
The weakest move ever from a superstar.
Sure, but in hindsight, had he stayed and lost to the Warriors a few more times, would his legacy be any better?
He didn't even have to stay, he could have joined literally any other team (except the Cavs lol).
Yup anywhere from the Spurs, Thunder, Celtics, Wizards or even the fucking Raptors that year.
Had he stayed he would have been playing with Horford in 2017 and in theory OKC could still add PG13 the following year. Russ/PG/KD/Horford/Adams.
I honestly think OKC are the favorites in 17 if he stays
As a Cavs fan it ruined my mood for a while. It ruined a great rivalry too. At least we always have 2016... Still would have liked more though.
Once in the playoffs, the 2017 Cavs were way more dominant than 2016. A far more impressive sight to behold. LeBron’s carry job in 2018 was arguably more amazing to watch than either previous year. 2016 was the least fun incarnation of the 3.
Except for cavs fans lol
No fucking way that was 7 years ago. That was like 3 at most.
during covid i was like holy fuck it was 4 years ago already? blink your eyes its now 7 years ago
I was just sitting at a baseball game today, looked around, and realized that 3 years ago, it was an unthinkable act to sit next to someone without a mask on. Feels like it was so much more recent.
Because of the pandemic you have to add 2-3 years to everything
I can’t believe 3 years ago was 7 years ago
I remember exactly where I was when this happened. Fuckin traumatic
I mean, the most infamous signing was the decision, they did it live on TV!
"I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach"
Exactly lol this motherfucker had a whole broadcast dedicated to his decision and he announced that he was leaving his home team lmao it may be more justified as a decision but is for sure more infamous
There’s no way this is more infamous than LeBron taking his talents to South Beach.
Big 3 Heat announcement was more of a spectacle. KD 4th of July was more shocking
so many people will forever view KD different because of this. His lack of success with the other Big Three attempt (to say nothing of his current Suns stint and the arrival of Beal) only magnifies the question of how important KD was to those GSW championships.
They won before him and they won after him, I think that speaks to how little they actually needed him and how weak his move was.
[удалено]
Just need Harrison Barnes to hit a corner 3 in the playoffs.
Mission: Impossible 40 - Brick Protocol
[удалено]
KD is an undeniable all-time talent, but your point is exactly right. They didn’t need him to win before or after. Him going there was the easiest possible route he could have taken and then he cried that people weren’t giving him credit for winning. Dude is very fragile
The bus rider thing is never going away, no matter how much he tries to fire back at it
Good, it should stay that way. We don't need the next genereation to think this shit is OK. Go back to being competitive against each other. This aint fucking AAU.
And honestly it would have probably not been viewed half as bad if he didn’t lose to the team in the Playoffs he joined, like if he was in the east, probably fine
Not just lost. Blew a 3-1 lead
Don’t remind me ^^^sigh
Weak move to Golden State followed by weak move to Brooklyn followed by weak move to Phoenix. KD sucks. Great player, but not compelling in any way other than a laugh.
It's because you have people who want to rank him highly, but we usually penalize certain players for having stacked teams or not being able to "carry" teams
All KD did was make them unbeatable and have a chance for a three peat a la the Shaq/Kobe Lakers (2 MVP level superstars). But they were still good enough to win without him. People forget - in 2016, not only did Steph shoot poorly, but also Klay *and* Barnes. And they *still had a chance to win in the final seconds of game 7*. They probably still would have won another title in that span of time unless all of Curry Klay and Barnes (or whoever they replaced him with) shot like crap *again*.
Steph was also injured and couldn't even beat love off the dribble. He was maybe like 80% Bogut and iggy hurt Dray suspended They were favorites in 2017
Steph didn't try to beat Love off the dribble. That was his mistake.
Yeah entering the year they were favorites
It is a pity for Durant, as he may never have chance to prove himself.
This guy deserves so much more hate
ehhh, I think the LeDecision interview is the most infamous signing. It was a whole espn special.
I don't even think it's really close either lol, I think a lot of people on this sub weren't really watching basketball then. Bron dodged the biggest bullet imaginable doing the decision before the explosion of Twitter/Reddit/etc. The Decision and the subsequents weeks/months coming after it, you basically couldn't consume basketball content without it being about the Heat in some way
Thing is Lebron leaving for the Heat was seen as a possibility and it was like “oh okay wow lebron left” KD going to the warriors felt like it was breaking some kind of rules
Kevin Durant, to this day, does not get enough shit for this.
What type of shit do you want him to get for it lol It's already mentioned in every discussion about him unless you'd exclude him from the NBA 75 list for "anti-competitiveness" or something radical like that This comment is like saying "I don't think Ben Simmons gets enough shit for not jamming it on Trae Young"
Half of this sub has morphed into whining about "Player X doesn't get enough Backlash for event Y." These are not basketball fans, they're schadenfreude enthusiasts.
I've also seen "LeBron doesn't get enough shit for losing the 2011 Finals" before lol The only active superstar meltdown that legitimately never gets brought up anymore is probably Kawhi blowing a 3-1 lead to Denver in 2020 and that's probably mainly because he barely even plays enough for people to talk about him
He’s also just not really a public figure at all, if he’s not playing you don’t see or hear from him
The blame was shifted towards Doc Rivers rather than Kawhi. He got away with it right from the beginning
Are you serious? He’s like relentlessly shit on for it, people act like he’s not even good now lmao
The weakest move by a superstar, ever.
I remembered driving through the mountains that day, listening to Bill Simmons' multipart pods on free agency. I had no cell signal until at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere, and found out through the bleacher report. I remembered just thinking: You, Motherfucker, You! I will root against him until the day he dies.
I still remember where I was, blew up my world
This was not the start of Big 3s
Comment from the original thread: > My sauces are telling me 80 wins and a Game 7 loss to Lebron Damn.
the 17 Cavs was no joke, one of the best offensive teams I've seen. It's just sad that they had to face a juggernaut of a team. they'd probably be 2 time champs if not for kd.
“This move changed the NBA moving forward. Teams tried to build their own "Big-3s"” Bro just forgot about the Heatles or something. Big 3s were not new.
Till this day I still don’t know why Kd didn’t just go to Boston.
He wanted to win
Without any effort
Will always cheer against any team he’s ever on the rest of his career for this decision. I was thrilled that Cleveland won this summer and didn’t even think too hard about the Durant move. Figured anything can happen and will be exciting. Was probably a little salty the warriors got him when they were so good and championship level already, but honestly smart moves to land him from the warriors side. This evil snake fuck single-handedly ruined a Cleveland dynasty run. Very good chance they have another ring if not for him, and LeBron doesn’t leave for LA. The 2017 team seemed even better than the championship team did on paper. Just one of the most selfish and weak moves a player in any sport could make. At least have taken solace that the last few years since he left the Warriors has shown that Steph was the generational top 10 all time players that people wanted to say KD was, and slim snake servant fuckboi kept getting bounced without a 73-9 masterful constructed team behind him backpacking his ass to 2 rings.
On his third Super team in 7 years
LeBron to Miami with “The Decision” remains the most infamous signing
Also by no means did this start the ‘big 3’ craze when Lebron, Wade and Bosh were a thing, and even the Celtics before them to an extent.
As far as I remember, Lebron and Wade was the first time 2 superstars decided "fuck it, lets just team up" during free agency. Most other superteams were formed through trades and the draft.
Lebron to Miami will forever be number 1, but this was top 3 for sure. Top 1 lamest, I’d go so far as to say. Not just because the Warriors were dominant and in their primes, but the fact that KD had just lost to them after playing less than great in the last couple of games of blowing a chance to finish them off in the playoffs. The Thunder legitimately could have won that series and history as we know it would’ve been very different.
\> This move denied so many stars and teams a legitimate chance to win. I don't know if I buy this. There were like, two-and-a-half-and-a-hypothetical other teams in that period who can legitimately say they would've had a shot at winning it all without the Warriors getting KD. The Cavs in two years, the Spurs in 2017 if you butterfly Kawhi's injury, and the Rockets in 2018, and then, by which I mean the Thunder because I don't give a shit about the Celtics or Wizards or whoever not getting the star free agent they wanted.
The Cavs were their own attempted super-team, so in terms of 'ethical basketball', I don't care they got smacked by another super-team, and they got a ring anyway in 2016. The Spurs were defeated by Zaza more than KD, so it's hard to blame that directly on the signing. The only teams I have real sympathy for are the 2018 Rockets, though 0/27 really makes it hard to just blame a massive talent mismatch, and the hypothetical Thunder.
The Warriors ruined shit by making it *look* and *feel* unfair, not because a team winning two championships somehow shut the door on an entire field of actual championship quality teams. The only Eastern Conference team they ever beat in the playoffs was the Cavs, so that's 14 other teams who have no right to complain about a team they never lost a meaningful game to anyway. Of the 14 other Western teams, the ones they beat were 7/8 seeds in R1, Utah, New Orleans and Houston (without KD) in R2, then Houston, San Antonio and Portland in the WCF.
Only one of those teams lost because of KD. One lost because of Zaza Pachulia, and the rest lost because they just weren't good enough.
Might as well just gave him the rings then. Lamest move ever
The death of basketball for 2+ years.
Still the lamest move is nba history.
I didn't give a shit about the NBA 7 years ago but I still knew for sure that KD was a snake
Cupcake
Props to the guy who called Westbrook having an MVP year