NBA superstar Kevin Durant established himself early on as one of the best players in basketball. But it wasn’t until 2017 that he won his first championship and finally reached the next level of superstardom. In a recent appearance on Out the Mud podcast, Durant looked back on that run and recalled how dominant his Warriors team was back in the day.
“That sh*t was sweet, man. I played against LeBron, Kyrie, KLove… there were some killers on the other side you had to be on point to play against them,” said Durant. “Kyrie and LeBron together? That’s a show right there. I think that was the peak of basketball in the league at that time. You had all that talent on one court at the highest stage in the Finals. That s*** was fun.”
It was met with heavy criticism when Kevin Durant announced his decision to join the Warriors in 2016 but it’s a move that would forever change his career. That season, their first with Durant at the helm, the Warriors were nearly unbeatable and it showed in the standings with an impressive 67-15 record.
Coming from the Thunder, with Russell Westbrook, Durant already had experience playing with stars and he hit his peak at the perfect time. With averages of 25.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game on 53.7% shooting, he led the Warriors to their third straight Finals appearance before winning it all to capture his first Larry O’Brien trophy.
His opponent? LeBron James, who had beaten Durant in the Finals just four years earlier. As the consensus best player in the league, LeBron’s greatness often impeded Durant’s goals but with the Warriors, Kevin was finally able to flip the script and defeat him on the biggest stage.
Durant not only won his first championship in 2017, but he also won his first of two Finals MVPs with averages of 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists over five games. Together, he, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green were just too good to stop and they easily handled the Cavaliers that summer in five games.
While Durant was only there for their final two meetings, he was still a big part of the rivalry between the Cavs and Warriors, which stretched from 2015 to 2018. They battled for four different championships, with the Warriors winning three while the Cavaliers captured one (2016).
Those times brought us some of the greatest moments in NBA history and helped define an entire era of the sport. Today, while Durant is long gone from the Warriors, his legacy there still holds up and he’s grateful for all that he was able to accomplish.
To date, the NBA legend has yet to replicate his success from the glory days and, despite the Suns’ best efforts to build a superteam, nothing has come close to matching the 2017 Warriors dynasty. But Durant still has time to make another run with two years and $105 million left on his contract and he wants to bring back the same buzz that people had for the Warriors.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.
