Thoughts: Will Kevin Durant’s NBA championship with the Phoenix Suns cede him a spot in the GOAT debate?
Despite being perhaps the best scorer of all time and having won almost every major NBA individual award, championship, and Olympic gold, the superstar is still not considered the greatest of all time.
NEW ORLEANS: A decade ago, Michael Jordan found it difficult to respond to the most popular NBA topic of the day: LeBron James or Kobe Bryant?
Jordan paused for a moment or two before blurting out, “Kevin Durant,” and laughing a little.
This occurred prior to Durant winning an NBA MVP award or a championship, but after Jordan selected Bryant, who at the time had a 5-1 advantage over James in titles. He was asked about Durant by Ahmad Rashad.
He’s coming,” Jordan said. “You talk about these two and you battling who’s the best and Kevin Durant is going to sneak through the backdoor.”
Durant has since won a regular season MVP, two NBA championships, two finals MVPs, two more Olympic gold medals to give him three and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.
Arguably the game’s purest scorer ever being he’s essentially a 7-footer who can score on all three levels and play above the rim, Durant is 10th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, having played in fewer games than the nine players ahead of him.
This season, he’s expected to surpass both Shaquille O’Neal and Carmelo Anthony. Although Durant has played in 187 fewer games than O’Neal and 240 less than Anthony, he is just 723 points behind O’Neal for ninth place and 416 points behind Anthony.
Further: Kevin Durant: An in-depth examination of the talented, multifaceted, and relatable Phoenix Suns star.
In his 17th NBA season, Durant averaged 28.9 points per game, which allowed him to pass O’Neal and Anthony in about 26 games.
In addition, Durant leads all scorers in points while competing for Team USA.
What have I failed to do?
But James has since won four NBA championships, become the all-time top scorer in the league, and established himself as the only player who truly belongs in the argument for the greatest player in history alongside Jordan.
Some have inquired as to when James surpassed Bryant.
A few weeks ago, Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal—who shared three championships with Bryant—asked whether Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who is regarded as the best shooter of all time, ought to be included in the discussion for the greatest of all time.
Even though Jordan—who is regarded by many as the greatest player of all time—said he was headed there before the big honors and championships, guess who hasn’t truly been in it?
enduring.
Why?
In an exclusive interview with The Republic last week, Durant stated, “Because I went to the Warriors.” “What makes me not belong in that? That’s the proper question for you to ask. Why not? What have I failed to do?
7 July 2016
The story, according to Durant, changed when he moved from Oklahoma City to Golden State. This was after OKC had led the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference finals, but the Warriors defeated OKC in seven games.
In the Thunder’s 108-101 home loss in Game 6, Durant only managed to shoot 10-of-31 for 29 points.
The Thunder fans are still upset with Durant’s performance in Game 6, which ended up being his final home game ever, and some of them still can’t forgive him. OKC lost Game 7 in Oakland, 96-88.
He went from being one of the best players in the game on a team that was a league contender and took the league by storm to leaving to join a team that had just defeated his Thunder with an NBA record 73 games won the season before. On July 7 of that year, he signed a contract with the Warriors.
defeated the child from Akron
In the 2016 NBA Finals, Cleveland defeated the 73-win Warriors in seven games.
The Warriors were virtually untouchable after Durant joined the team the following season, as seen by their back-to-back titles and their one-lost series in the finals against James and the Cavaliers.
The Cavs went from winning their first ever NBA title with the kid from Akron leading the way to having no chance against the Warriors even with James putting up historic postseason numbers. He averaged a 30-point triple-double in the 2017 finals, but Durant, Curry and the Warriors took them down in five.
A year later, James averaged 34 points, 10 assists and 8.5 rebounds, but got swept in the 2018 finals the Warriors led by Durant, who won his second straight finals MVP.
Durant averaged 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists in the 2017 finals, 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists in the 2018 finals – and hit dagger 3s in Game 3 of each of those finals.
2017: With less than a minute remaining and behind by two, Durant grabs the rebound, drives the ball up, and sinks a three over James to give Golden State a 114-113 lead with 45.3 seconds remaining. With a 118-113 victory, the Warriors now lead the series 3-0.
2018: With 49.8 seconds remaining in Golden State’s 110-102 victory, Durant makes a three-point jumper from 33 feet out to tie the game.
With Durant scoring 43 points on 15 of 23 shots, including 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, grabbing 13 rebounds, and dishing out seven assists, the Warriors established a 3-0 series lead.
Curry, Draymond Green, JaVale McGee, and Klay Thompson, the other four starters, combined for 41 points on 16 of 42 shooting, making only 3 of 17 attempts, 14 rebounds, and 17 assists.
Thus, why isn’t Durant mentioned while discussing the greatest player of all time, given that he defeated James on the grandest platform twice?
altered the path of history
James might have won one of those finals, if not both, and heated up the debate about who the greatest player of all time, had the Warriors stuck to their formula.
James’ momentum was halted by Durant at the time, but it has since picked back up as James won everything with the Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals and overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record.
Despite winning his first two MVP awards on a super team in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, James has four MVPs from the regular season, four championships, and four MVPs from the postseason.
Curry has four championships and two MVP awards from regular seasons, but two of those came with Durant, who helped the Warriors go from being a strong team through the draft and a championship in 2015 to a dynasty.
Durant will join Jordan and Bryant in the uncommon three-peat world if he survives the 2019 Finals against Toronto and the Warriors defeat the Raptors without suffering an Achilles injury.
Away in Brooklyn with Harden and Irving
Instead, he returned from an achilles injury to miss the 2019–20 season and joined up with Kyrie Irving and James Harden in Brooklyn. Despite only playing 16 games together, that three was considered one of the worst disappointments for such a brilliant group and failed to win a championship in two seasons. They were separated like a toasted cheese sandwich.
Due to injuries, Durant has only played in nine games with Bradley Beal and Devin Booker during his first full season in Phoenix.
Just before the trade deadline of the previous season, Phoenix traded T.J. Warren, who isn’t currently in the NBA, and Durant to the Nets in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round selections, and a pick swap.
Although they haven’t performed up to expectations thus far, the Suns entered the season as a title contender and have over half the season left to improve in order to make the playoffs.
MVP season in Phoenix
At thirty-five, Durant is having a year worthy of an MVP.
Prior to Friday’s game against New Orleans, Durant is third in the NBA in 3-point shooting with a career-best 47.1%, and he is fifth in scoring on 52.4% of the field. In addition, he averaged 5.8 assists, 6.3 rebounds, and has been the greatest defender for the Suns.
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