There is no doubting Kevin Durant’s place in the history of basketball, he will go down as a supreme scorer, someone with the ability to get buckets at will. His legacy as an individual superstar is set in stone, but when it comes to his championships and his legacy with the teams he has been a part of, there’s been a lot more debate about that.
Durant himself joked about how he’s been dead since he decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the 73-win Golden State Warriors in 2016, a wildly unpopular decision. However, there was a chance at redemption when he teamed up with Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets.
That’s now seemingly in tatters after KD put in a trade request to move on from the Nets, something that has once again left him open to some hate. Considering that the Nets gave him everything he asked for, many feel that this is something of a betrayal from Durant. However, Joy Taylor has now stepped in to defend him, saying that this is all just a part of the business.
.@JoyTaylorTalks doesn't blame Kevin Durant for wanting out:
"He's been the only steady thing in Brooklyn… This was pretty much doomed from the beginning." pic.twitter.com/z3SCRBwbEN
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 1, 2022
“I support mobility. I’ve moved around. I have no problem with people trying to elevate their careers. I have no problem with people making decisions to get out of bad situations if they feel like it’s not serving them. And I don’t buy into the idea of loyalty when it comes to business.
“This is what Kevin Durant does for a living. And if he’s unhappy in Brooklyn, if he is unhappy with the way that Brooklyn has handled things, if he is unhappy with the way Brooklyn has handled Kyrie, or for any other reason he wants to leave Brooklyn, I don’t mind.
“I don’t see Brooklyn as a place that has a culture, and at this point a future. So, I am completely on Kevin Durant’s side. The other part of that is that he’s been the only steady thing in Brooklyn.
“Why is it on Kevin Durant to hold all this together? … This was pretty much doomed from the beginning when you really think about the structure of the organization and how all this went.”
There are always two sides to any story and it’s easy to see the validity of the points Taylor is making. However, this is not the first time KD is leaving a team that could have won but can’t get over the hump, so it’s unlikely to be enough for those that criticize him. One way or another, Durant remains a stellar player and wherever he ends up, he’ll likely be the center of attention once again.
