Shaking the grounds of the National Basketball Association (NBA) landscape is the latest news of now Golden State Warriors Forward (F) Kevin Durant’s decision to sign with the Oakland based team. Spurning his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, for a 53.4 million dollar deal that goes into affect next season with a player option for a second. Durant’s seeming no-brainer choice also comes as an unpopular one. A choice he says he, and the rest of the basketball world for that matter, will have to deal with.
What Durant leaves behind is a fan base that watched him grow from a rookie to where he is now as a former MVP and scoring champion. He leaves behind one of the NBA’s smaller markets, which are destinations free agent star players tend to shy away from. More importantly he leaves behind a talented roster which, as Durant will be reminded all year, was one game away from a trip to the NBA finals. The talent headlined by former teammate, all-star Point Guard (PG) Russell Westbrook, whose eccentric personality and game play accusers say disallowed Durant to maintain the “alpha dog” position among his former teammates. Regardless, the two were fun to watch, and it is safe to say that their single NBA finals appearance, and multiple conference final appearances didn’t happen by accident.
Holding the NBA record for most wins in a season, and just one year removed from being the defending NBA champions, the Warriors were the ideal destination for a free agent star of Durant’s caliber. Like Durant’s former team, this roster was also loaded with explosive young talent and made the ideal opponent for the would have been, Durant lead Thunder for years to come. Despite being responsible for knocking Durant and the Thunder out of the playoffs this past season, Durant claims to have felt at ease among the Warriors players during the team’s free agency pitch. Calling his new team the best destination for his growth as a player, the wait and see approach would be most appropriate in validating his words.
With regard to how the ever shifting legacies in sports are defined, subjective criteria will always be around to validate and discredit any name on trial. The team swap taboo idealism of the earlier generations of NBA players, which Durant among others has been criticized for could possibly become taboo in the coming years. The defining mark of greatness has, and still remains in the ability to make one’s surroundings greater. However, even standing at 6’11, that still will remain a tall task for Durant, but as stated, it’s a decision he’s willing to live with.
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May 3, 2017
