Kevin Durant’s career / "legacy" is the most fraudulent ever

[ArbitraryWater]

A playoff failure his entire life except when he joined an actual championship team (insane move) in the GS safe-haven. Of course balled out when he had huge margin of error.

Whenever it was upon him, he never did well. 2012 and 2021 (no expectations) are the only 2 clean post-seasons.


2022: 0-4 1st round
2023: 2-4 WCSF (could have gotten 0-4 1st round if Leonard had not gotten injured)
2024: 0-4 1st round



kblaze is gonna come in here and say none of this matters and hes a 2x champ and the rest will be forgotten (#argument) and/or could be said for anyone else but this is the truth.

Durant does not have it.

His intangibles are severely lacking. Hes shown zero "heart" and straight-up AMBITION the last few years.

Hes a complete one trick pony and those 2 titles say nothing about him. As kblazes signature says, "rings are overrated" (ironically he will use those to overrate him).

And you cant say that for any other players titles.

[warriorfan]

[dankok8]

KD quite likely has 3 rings if Harden and Kyrie don't get hurt in 2021 and on the heels of a dominant run.

OKC allowing the Wolves to score 5 million points and kill them on the boards isn't really on KD.

[SouBeachTalents]

Also, saw this on X which is pretty crazy

KD hasn't won an elimination game without Steph since May 3 2014.

[ArbitraryWater]

KD quite likely has 3 rings if Harden and Kyrie don't get hurt in 2021 and on the heels of a dominant run.

OKC allowing the Wolves to score 5 million points and kill them on the boards isn't really on KD.

Cool, you just proved that maybe, KD could have won a title with Harden and Kyrie.

Whats that even supposed to say about KD?

[ArbitraryWater]

Also, saw this on X which is pretty crazy

The guy has 0 backbone. Its not surprising.

[SouBeachTalents]

I will say though, I can't think of a more pivotal on the court moment than KD's toe being on the line in that Bucks series.



The repercussions from that are still being felt to this day. If he takes that shot 6 inches back, the Nets likely win the title, Harden & Kyrie are likely not currently dueling in the playoffs, KD is likely not in Phoenix, by extension that horrid Beal contract isn't either. KD's legacy is greatly improved, and the most underrated aspect, Giannis is seen as a perennial playoff choker, who would be heading into his 30's having never even made the Finals.

[StrongLurk]

His legacy sucks in a narrative sense, but definitely not in a skill/talent sense.

I think Curry is a little overrated and KD is a little underrated if we are being honest and looking past "rangz". I will tell you this, Curry NEVER played better or as good as Lebron did in their matchups. Bron was clearly the superior player. However KD actually played at Bron's level in the 2017 and 2018 finals. I don't care about narratives or "bus drivers" in that regard. I saw what actually played out on the court in those finals and Curry was 3rd best behind KD/Bron. And let's be real, KD was one achilles injury away from 3-peating with most likely 3 FMVPs in a row, joining MJ/Shaq as players to do that.

Curry/KD are somewhere in the top 12-18 all time for me.

[j3lademaster]

2022 was the worst thing that could have happened to him. Swept first round in the east averaging 26 on 38% shooting and the Warriors go on and win without him, proving Steph to be the common denominator all along. Also proves Westbrick, despite turning himself into a meme recently, was once one of the best second options ever.

[tontoz]

[CurryOverLebron]

Size and strength matters

Its why bigger stronger smallforwards like Lebron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul Pierce, and Kawhi Leonard have an easier time leading teams to championships than the smaller weaker smallforwards like Paul George, Kevin Durant, and Jayson Tatum.

[FultzNationRISE]

I will say though, I can't think of a more pivotal on the court moment than KD's toe being on the line in that Bucks series.



The repercussions from that are still being felt to this day. If he takes that shot 6 inches back, the Nets likely win the title, Harden & Kyrie are likely not currently dueling in the playoffs, KD is likely not in Phoenix, by extension that horrid Beal contract isn't either. KD's legacy is greatly improved, and the most underrated aspect, Giannis is seen as a perennial playoff choker, who would be heading into his 30's having never even made the Finals.

This is very faulty logic tbh.

It was more likely than not always going to be something with that trio. They never showed any heart or passion whatsoever. Tarden was a dud in Philly, Durant's been a dud in Phoenix, and this is the first year Kyrie has shown actual grit and professionalism since he played with LeFatherFigure. There was also constant injuries. Winning that Bucks series doesnt guarantee they beat Atlanta in the next round or Phoenix in the finals. Or that Kyrie still doesnt end up asking out of Brooklyn that offseason because his tweets denying the holocaust get poorly received. He asked out of Cleveland after three straight finals runs.

Those guys were always a terrible fit from a leadership/psychological standpoint, at least at that time. Maybe Kyrie's turned a corner. Maybe Harden has. But at that time, the baggage was real. Harden didnt like Kyrie sitting out over vaxing, Kyrie didnt like the team censoring his tweets, KD wanted every coach and GM in the building fired. They were a disaster. Toe or no toe, I dont think the odds of them lasting healthy and cohesively through an entire playoff run, let alone multiple runs, is actually very probable objectively.

[AlternativeAcc.]

At the end of the day... he was the leader of the best team of all time and has the hardware to show. Two of the best finals performances ever against peak LeBron. He also became elite in his early 20's and wasted 7 years playing with Westbrick/Perkins. Should have more rings.


But if you don't have at least 2 FMVP's, you aren't an all-time great. He meets the criteria... so objevtively he's borderline top 10 and if not for Westbrick probably closer to top 5

[SouBeachTalents]

This is very faulty logic tbh.

It was more likely than not always going to be something with that trio. They never showed any heart or passion whatsoever. Tarden was a dud in Philly, Durant's been a dud in Phoenix, and this is the first year Kyrie has shown actual grit and professionalism since he played with LeFatherFigure. There was also constant injuries. Winning that Bucks series doesnt guarantee they beat Atlanta in the next round or Phoenix in the finals. Or that Kyrie still doesnt end up asking out of Brooklyn that offseason because his tweets denying the holocaust get poorly received. He asked out of Cleveland after three straight finals runs.

Those guys were always a terrible fit from a leadership/psychological standpoint, at least at that time. Maybe Kyrie's turned a corner. Maybe Harden has. But at that time, the baggage was real. Harden didnt like Kyrie sitting out over vaxing, Kyrie didnt like the team censoring his tweets, KD wanted every coach and GM in the building fired. They were a disaster. Toe or no toe, I dont think the odds of them lasting cohesively through an entire playoff run, let alone multiple runs, is actually very probable objectively.

You're 100% spot on with your evaluation of their characters, but personally, I have a hard time believing that if the Nets win the title that year, which I think they would have had they beaten Milwaukee, that Harden is demanding to be traded the following season, and all 3 guys would be off the team less than 2 years later.

It very well could've been an inevitable ending to those 3 guys being on the same team, and it's pure speculation, but I think a title would have bought the Nets at minimum, 1-2 more seasons with the 3 of them before everything ended up going off the rails.

[FultzNationRISE]

At the end of the day... he was the leader of the best team of all time and has the hardware to show. Two of the best finals performances ever against peak LeBron. He also became elite in his early 20's and wasted 7 years playing with Westbrick/Perkins. Should have more rings.


But if you don't have at least 2 FMVP's, you aren't an all-time great. He meets the criteria... so objevtively he's borderline top 10 and if not for Westbrick probably closer to top 5

He certainly has plenty to be proud of in his career.

And tbh, I dont think the reason he went to GS was to just hop a ride to Titleville like most people think. He wasnt trying to short cut anything IMO. The guy honestly doesnt even care about titles. He wanted the challenge of playing higher level basketball than he was getting paired with Westchuck. And he wanted to be somewhere that he felt wanted him and appreciated him. Those are fairly reasonable motivations.

He got to play some pretty high level ball there and did win two titles.

Honestly nothing to regret.