When you go to Basketball-Reference and look up Kevin Durant's page, you will see a first-ballot Hall of Famer with a boatload of nicknames. While Durantula, Slim Reaper and KD are the most common, you do not see one that should be there: The Noted Wanderer. Durant has played 17 NBA seasons for four different franchises out of Texas, and is slated to play for his fifth team in the Houston Rockets.
The perennial NBA All-Star has technically played in five different NBA cities, as he spent his rookie year out of Texas with the then-Seattle SuperSonics. After spending the first nine NBA seasons with the SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder, he spent three years with the Golden State Warriors before spending about 2.5 years apiece with the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns. He did miss 2019-20.
Durant may be an 11-time All-NBA honoree, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, an NBA Rookie of the Year, an NBA MVP and a member of the 75th Anniversary Team, but so much movement has gotten in the way of his greatness. We may live in the player empowerment era of the NBA, but five teams are too many. I would prefer to see a guy play for one or two teams. Anything past three starts to get absurd.
I will now explain why three different NBA teams should be the maximum for a star player to play for.
Why Kevin Durant going to the Houston Rockets is bad for his NBA legacy
When you look at many of the game's greats, some played for multiple teams. Michael Jordan played in Washington. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar starred in both Milwaukee and Los Angeles. LeBron James had two stints in Cleveland with a Miami tenure in between and now a Los Angeles residency. Other greats like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant played for one NBA franchise in their careers.
I think for a player of Durant's stature, three teams should be the right number for this reason. You play for the team that drafted you right out of school. After that, you may or may not get traded to another franchise, potentially not of your choosing, although probably more likely than not. As for the third team, that is all about picking the right place to close out the rest of one's prime in free agency.
Durant is better than them in the pantheon of the sport, but fans have strong memories of Charles Barkley playing in Philadelphia and Phoenix before winding down in Houston. Clyde Drexler was a star in Portland before eventually winning an NBA Championship in Houston with his college teammate Hakeem Olajuwon. I think it is simply too hard for a person to remember a player playing for more.
Every sport is different, but there is a threshold. Do we remember Greg Maddux playing for the San Diego Padres? How about LaDainian Tomlinson for the New York Jets? Does Wayne Gretzky playing for the St. Louis Blues even register with you? Overall, Durant's talent has prevailed wherever he has played, but all this movement, compounded by joining Golden State as a frontrunner, totally hurts him.
Ultimately, Durant's legacy would be in a far better place had he only played for Oklahoma City, Golden State and Brooklyn. It may not be entirely his fault, but he is collecting more jerseys than Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown and Matt Stairs. It pains me to say it, but Shaquille O'Neal playing outside of Orlando, Los Angeles and Miami hurts his legacy. He basically has a rainbow jersey wardrobe.
When he retires, Durant might be viewed how we see Shaq and Wilt Chamberlain in the pantheon.