The Golden State Warriors made five consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019, with Kevin Durant among the leaders of the squad for three of those years. The two-time Finals MVP left the Warriors in 2019 after a disappointing season where he clashed with teammates and tore his Achilles in the Finals. Coach Steve Kerr opened up on Durant’s departure on the Dan Le Batard Show.
“Those years were incredible. I loved coaching Kevin. I think that last year he was here, he was visibly wanting to move on. We could feel it, and that was his choice as a free agent. Everything that he gave to us and brought to us, we will be thankful for that forever… Kevin’s an incredible player and I am blessed to have coached him.”
“You can tell when somebody is happy or not… It was obvious to everyone that Kevin just needed a new challenge. He was looking to move on.”
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Durant was incredible during his time with the Warriors, averaging 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists over three seasons.
His decision to join the Warriors in 2017 is argued by many to be worse than LeBron James‘ move to the Heat in 2010, especially because the Warriors were coming off a season where they set the regular season wins record with 73 and eliminated Durant’s OKC Thunder in the Conference Finals with a 3-1 comeback.
After the Warriors’ incredible season ended with a 3-1 series loss of their own to James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Durant joined up to make them virtually unstoppable. They dominated their way to the 2017 and 2018 championships, failing to three-peat after injuries to Durant and Klay Thompson.
KD left the Warriors in the summer of 2019, reaming up with Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets. Their pairing didn’t work for a variety of factors, culminating with Irving being traded to the Mavericks and Durant following suit to the Suns just a few days later.
Andre Iguodala Believes The Warriors Needed Durant To Beat LeBron James
The Warriors didn’t need Kevin Durant to contend at the highest level, but adding him made it a virtual guarantee that the Warriors would be one of the best teams in the NBA.
One of the key components of those Warriors was 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, who agreed with Shannon Sharpe when the NFL Hall of Famer said the Warriors wouldn’t have beaten the Cavaliers after 2016 if they didn’t add Durant.
“There it is (Shannon saying they needed Durant to beat LeBron, Irving, and the Cavs again). Point blank. Period… I’ve had a lot of success playing with Kevin Durant. The 2010 World Championship was his coming out party and then two NBA championships came out of that. And then I played with him in the Olympics 2012. I’m pretty much undefeated with KD,”
Durant has reached the heights he did with the Warriors in the last five seasons, peaking with a Conference Semi-Final appearance in 2021. He’s had a lot of bad luck with teammate issues, injuries, and more, but he is expected to deliver with the Phoenix Suns.
It won’t be easy to become a contender coming off a sweep loss in the first round of the Playoffs, but the motivated Durant knows he needs to push for contention alongside Devin Booker to accentuate his legacy.
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