Everyone was saying LeBron's legacy was forever tainted - now look at him.

[Carbine]

Someone needs to bump all those threads where LeBron was getting hated on for joining Miami and saying his legacy was forever tainted and could not EVER be compared to the true GOATs.

Fast forward a bunch of years and 3 titles later and he's as "great" as MJ now in some people eyes.

This is not a thread comparing Durant joining Warriors vs LeBron joining Heat.

It's to acknowledge when all the dust settles what will be remembered are the titles and dominance (or lack thereof) from Durant and this Warrior team.

[DirkNowitzki41]

Except this is WAY worse. LeBrons decision was bad, but this is 1000x worse. I'm not even gonna explain why, it's obvious.

KD wont be able to redeem himself from this, believe me.

[Lebron23]

LeBron was the man aka the numero uno scoring option when he won his 3 NBA titles.

[KingPush]

Depends if Durant can make himself the clear cut #1 option on the team. Lebron would have been shat on if Wade didnt take the backseat

[IGOTGAME]

Someone needs to bump all those threads where LeBron was getting hated on for joining Miami and saying his legacy was forever tainted and could not EVER be compared to the true GOATs.

Fast forward a bunch of years and 3 titles later and he's as "great" as MJ now in some people eyes.

This is not a thread comparing Durant joining Warriors vs LeBron joining Heat.

It's to acknowledge when all the dust settles what will be remembered are the titles and dominance (or lack thereof) from Durant and this Warrior team.

He had to come back and do something superhuman. If Durant can come back and do something superhuman then he will be able to rescue his career too.

Thing is, he will have to overcome something in his career like Lebron finally did.

Also, unlike Lebron, Durant never cemented himself as the best in the world. He has always been second or third. Now he has more to lose in this situation than to gain. If they don't win a title in these 2 years then he is going to hurt his legacy

[francesco totti]

If it wasnt going to taint lebron legacy, lebron wasnt going back to cleveland.
Lebron had to go back to cleveland and win title there, in 3 -4 years time will durant do same? go back to okc and win? i am not sure.

[G0ATbe]

Yup as long as flip flopping idiots like that exist this will never be seen as a serious issue in the NBA. Team up with half all star team starters, win a championship or two and all of a sudden you leapfrog to top 10 all time:oldlol:. Rinse and repeat and look, you're top 3:roll:

[chips93]

He had to come back and do something superhuman. If Durant can come back and do something superhuman then he will be able to rescue his career too.

Thing is, he will have to overcome something in his career like Lebron finally did.



he'll have trouble finding any adversity to overcome with that stacked roster.

[gigantes]

It's to acknowledge when all the dust settles what will be remembered are the titles and dominance (or lack thereof) from Durant and this Warrior team.
agreed. time seems to take the rough edges off this issue. for example, just look at all the people touting bill russell as one of the GOATs when he played on a ridiculously stacked team in an 8-team league. look at all the people who are happy to count all those celtic titles against the later ones accomplished in a much larger league with much more parity.

also, it has happened quite a few times now that teams / players tried to build superteams, i.e. it's probably not as big a deal as people would like to make it.

- celtics teams of the 60's
- lakers team of shaq / kobe / malone / payton
- celtics team of garnett / pierce / allen
- lakers team of kobe / gasol / howard / nash
- miami team of james / wade / bosh
- warriors...

any i'm missing...?

[FKAri]

agreed. time seems to take the rough edges off this issue. for example, just look at all the people touting bill russell as one of the GOATs when he played on a ridiculously stacked team in an 8-team league. look at all the people who are happy to count all those celtic titles against the later ones accomplished in a much larger league with much more parity.

also, it has happened quite a few times now that teams / players tried to build superteams, i.e. it's probably not as big a deal as people would like to make it.

- celtics teams of the 60's
- lakers team of shaq / kobe / malone / payton
- celtics team of garnett / pierce / allen
- lakers team of kobe / gasol / howard / nash
- miami team of james / wade / bosh
- warriors...

any i'm missing...?

Showtime Lakers
80s Celtics

[SamuraiSWISH]

You forgot Wilt / West / Baylor ...

Shaq / Kobe / Malone / Payton don't count. Two of those guys were on their last legs and no longer All Stars.

[Sarcastic]

2010 decision is constantly brought up and held against Lebron.

[KiiiiNG]

It's funny what fmvps and rings do for a legacy.

Bill Russell is considered top 5 all-time with a pedestrian offensive game, but he played for stacked teams and collected rings.

Durants now the goto scorer on the Warriors and will likely win all the fmvps. Has an inside and outside game, best isolation scorer in the league.

At the end of his career Durant will.have 5-8 rings and 5-8 fmvps. He'll be up there with Jordan, lebron, Kareem and Russell. Despite the meltdowns of today, Durants gonna finish with a top 3 all time legacy.

[gigantes]

Showtime Lakers
80s Celtics

You forgot Wilt / West / Baylor ...
key questions-- 1) did players jump on the bandwagon to build a superteam?, 2) did mgmt get some kind of ridiculously good deal (or conversely pay a very high price) that might be considered "skewed?"

if a team came together organically so to speak, i'm not sure you can really hold it against anyone.

just throwing it out there...


Shaq / Kobe / Malone / Payton don't count. Two of those guys were on their last legs and no longer All Stars.
i disagree. they weren't the players they were in their primes, but before the season started they were considered huge additions that would put the lakers over the top. it was arguably injuries that derailed them, not lack of talent. and they still made the finals.

[tpols]

yup.. all that matters is the individual impact and the rings .. Lebron got MORE hate than this for the decision.. people that didnt even watch basketball tuned in to watch that and talk about it.. as long as you lead a team to titles in doesnt matter how its done. That was probably a critical element in KD's decision making seeing how all Bron's hate in the media dissapeared when he started winning, regardless of circumstance.

Both Lebron and Durant stacked their squads, but KD will still have to go through a stacked spurs squad.. possibly a chris paul/blake griffin squad .. while bron got the free ride d-rose, paul george, roy hibbert, kyle lowry, demar derozan, jeff teague, paul millsap express.. didnt matter. Under the public eye it doesnt matter, all the hate was forgotten when he balled out and won.

[gigantes]

if lebron hadn't done that ridiculous "the decision" TV special as well as the "not 1, not 2" speech, things would probably have gone a lot smoother for him.

[Bernkastel]

LeBron repaired himself by winning one for the land. Durant will never win one of OKC.

[SouBeachTalents]

if lebron hadn't done that ridiculous "the decision" TV special as well as the "not 1, not 2" speech, things would probably have gone a lot smoother for him.

He definitely still gets backlash, but that made him public enemy #1. There's no way Durant receives the hate LeBron did that first season in Miami

[jayfan]

Main difference is that GS is already a championship team without Durant. They don't need him. Durant couldn't beat them, so he decided to join them. He's doing nothing but gravy-training. He turned in his player card with this move.






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