5 reasons the 2017 NBA Finals could be the best ever

2. Kevin Durant’s pursuit of a ring

This year’s Finals is the reason Kevin Durant took the plunge and went over to the dark side in California to join the Warriors. Now, we’ll get to see if the move was worth it, and what’s next if Golden State can’t pull it out in the end.

Durant will be competing in his second NBA Finals, his first since he lost with the Oklahoma City Thunder back in 2012 against LeBron’s Miami Heat. He’s on the pursuit for that elusive ring, and this is, without a doubt, his best chance at getting it. He’ll arguably be the biggest piece of the Warriors’ puzzle in this series, and if he falters, the whole team may fall apart.

The series provides Durant the chance to prove his move from OKC to Golden State was worth it, to prove he’s one of the elite who wins a title, and get over the hump of LeBron dominating on the biggest stage possible. However, there’s surely the doubt of what happens if everything goes wrong.

If the Warriors can’t pull out their second title in three years, what’s Durant’s next move? Is his whole operation a failure? Does he feel like he has to leave again to go to another team, or even back to the Thunder, to make another run? Or, better yet, if he gets the ring with the Warriors, does he pull the same move LeBron did, and return home to the Thunder as a champion and actually lead his former team to the Promised Land?

There are so many question marks surrounding Durant this year, and it provides for one of the bigger reasons why this is such a great NBA Finals. He’ll have to overcome the King to establish himself as one of the elites, and to justify his long summer from 2016.