5 reasons Kevin Durant stays with Oklahoma City Thunder
By Tom West
3) Does Durant want to ‘cheat’?
No, joining the Warriors isn’t ‘cheating,’ per se. If Kevin Durant wants a fast-track route to what should be a guaranteed championship in 2017, heading to Golden State is the way to do it. The sheer fear for opponents of trying to guard Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant would cause nightmares, arming the Warriors with the two best scorers in the NBA, supported by a host of talent, defense, an elite bench, and a great new coach in Steve Kerr.
The positives are endless, but from Durant’s perspective, what we see as positives could easily double as negatives for him.
There’s no need to go into the details here, because all you need to do is look at the 73-9 record to see a summary of just how historically dominant the Warriors were this regular season. Curry took a leap forward despite being an MVP already, Klay Thompson is a deadly shooter to space the floor alongside Durant, Andrew Bogut is one of the best defensive centers in the league, and Draymond Green became an exceptional playmaker while looking as fiercely versatile on defense as ever.
In short, joining that group and the second unit that supports them could cover Durant’s giant hands in rings in a hurry. Just think how unstoppable the “death lineup” (Curry, Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, Green) would be if you swap Barnes for Durant — the existing five already had a ridiculous net rating of +44.4 this season (per Basketball Reference).
This is where the problems start to arise. For a start, if the Warriors do consider pursuing Durant as has been suggested, they’ll have to deal with some loss in the process.
Barnes will be gone in free agency (obviously not a problem if you upgrade to Durant), Bogut may easily go, too, and some combination of bench players will need to be cleared in order to create enough cap space for Durant.
Ultimately, though, this just comes down to how Durant wants to be remembered. Is he happy being an extra to a team that could be going for a three-peat without him, lacking any need to actually sign more talent?
Kevin, if you’re content joining a group like this, avoiding the need to build your own dynasty, then go have fun getting more championships than LeBron.
Next: There isn't a perfect situation waiting for him