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BASKETBALL GODS

In recent days, basketball chatter has intensified regarding the possibility of NBA superstar, Kevin Durant electing to join the Golden State Warriors once he becomes a free agent this summer. Yes, THAT Kevin Durant, widely considered one of the five best basketball players of this generation, and a surefire future member of the Hall of Fame. Yes, THOSE Golden State Warriors, defending league champions, on pace to set the alltime record for wins this season and as dominant a team as we’ve seen in the association since Michael Jordan donned jersey #23 in Chicago. The offseason is still a long way off, and Durant himself has not come close to offering anything even remotely resembling a statement or announcement regarding his future, beyond this season. Still, the mere idea that this possibility exists has led to some richter-scale like reaction from the basketball media and fans alike. The overwhelming assumption is that if Durant joins The Warriors next year, there will simply be no purpose in even playing the games. Rather, we should skip ahead to the championship crowning next June and hand over the trophy. I don’t buy it. I say that if Durant does indeed sign with Golden State, there will be no championship parade by the bay in 2017. Why not? Because The Basketball Gods will make sure it doesn’t happen.

Nobody has ever met or seen or interacted with The Basketball Gods… nobody knows whom, or what they are… but to believe they don’t exist is akin to not loving or understanding the game. The Basketball Gods are not the collected spirits of the game’s forefathers and early greats… rather, The Basketball Gods are the collective spirit of the game itself. They don’t like it when the purpose and purity of the game is threatened or tampered with. It is their mission to protect this game, by whatever arbitrarily cerebral and organic means they deem necessary. And there is no official rule book or set of by-laws that determine how and when The Basketball Gods choose to intervene. They, and only they decide why, when and how to do so. Generally speaking, If and when any one or any thing in the league tries to maneuver, manipulate, get greedy, act stupid, bend the rules or exploit a loophole in the system, The Basketball Gods will see to it that those best laid plans end up laying nothing but eggs. This is what the basketball gods do. This is why they exist.

In the case of Kevin Durant and The Warriors, The Basketball Gods are certain to make sure that something wholly unpredictable and unforeseeable happens to derail such a superstar orchestrated scenario. It might be a key injury or an ego explosion or a Kardashian sister… it might be a gambling debt or choosing sides on the latest rapper feud or who got the better seat on the team plane. Or it might be something even more unfortunate or knuckleheaded. As with “ball don’t lie” and “heat check,” The Basketball Gods will find a way to shock the basketball world… they always do. It’s not smart to challenge The Basketball Gods… they always win.

If you’re a happily married man, you resist the beautiful woman with the seductive smile, seated provocatively at the bar, offering to buy you a drink. If you’re shopping for a new car, and the priority is good gas mileage and helping the environment, you resist the Escalade SUV with the plush interior and arena worthy sound system and plop your down payment on a hybrid. If you’re The Golden State Warriors, especially if you win the title again this year (and who thinks they won’t?), you resist the notion of Kevin Durant in a yellow and white #35 jersey in the year 2017 and beyond. You take a deep breath and say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” As difficult as this will be, you will indeed be thankful for your decision in the morning.

This isn’t 2008, when The Celtics finagled Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to Boston and won a title. The Celtics were bottom-feeders the year before that trade, coming off an 18 game losing streak with a roster from the island of misfit toys. The pre-2008 Celtics couldn’t have beaten this years Warrior’s second unit. The pre-2008 Celtics had no Splash brothers draining three’s like lifesavers, no Draymond Green channeling Scottie Pippen 2.0, no exquisite team chemistry to risk altering. The pre-2008 Celtics had nothing to lose. This year’s and next year’s Golden State Warriors will have everything to lose… and nothing to gain.

This also isn’t 2011, when Lebron took his basketball talents to South Beach. The Heat team he joined that year was solid, but nowhere near the same galaxy as the 2015–2016 Warriors. They had Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and pieces in place, but they weren’t re-writing record books and re-defining the way the game is played the way this current Warrior team does.

This also isn’t 2014, when Lebron took his basketball talents back to Cleveland. The Cavs were an oft-injured, Kyrie Irving and The Pips before Lebron’s return. In win-immediately mode, they hastily reached beyond their grasp to add Kevin Love, at the expense of the overall #1 draft pick, a move that will surely haunt them down the road. Cue The Basketball Gods. Love and Irving get hurt in the finals last year and The Cavs lose to, of course, The Warriors. This year they’ve replaced their coach and fought endless media scrutiny under the heading of “What’s wrong with The Cav’s?” They’re winning, but nobody in a Cavalier uniform looks very happy on the basketball court these days. Lebron is an all-time great… The Basketball Gods are greater.

The Warriors need to take full notice of all that’s come before them. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it and/or if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

So what does this mean if you’re Kevin Durant? Well, nobody said that winning a championship was going to be easy and nobody said that life in the NBA was going to be fair. The Basketball Gods don’t allow for easy, and they have their own unique definition of fair. So you stay put. You’re on the 3rd or 4th best team in the NBA. You’re part of the deadliest 1–2 combination in the league. You’re team plays lousy defense and you need to upgrade your bench, but these things could happen overnight. Oh, did I fail to mention you’ll also be the highest paid player in the history of The NBA? So you deal with it. Man up. Get better. Get luckier. The Basketball Gods are more likely to reward you for staying put than they ever would for leaving.