Why Kevin Durant’s Move to Golden State Should Be Celebrated
Spark Series | Episode 2
“Nothing in this league is easy. There’s no shortcuts, we’ve still got 82 games to play. All this adjustment period… I think, you know, this was the hardest road. Cause I don’t know anybody here. I’ve never lived in this community, never played for this team…and I took a leap.”
This is a video discussing why Kevin Durant’s decision to move to the Golden State Warriors should be celebrated, not condemned. This is a level-headed approach to discussing a player’s choice in professional sports.
Here’s the situation:
On July 4th 2016, Kevin Durant — one of the best professional basketball players in the world today — posted a Player’s Tribune self-written article announcing the next chapter in his career, and in his life: he would be leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors. In his article, Kevin stated, “… I am at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man. Moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community […] offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth.”
In the near three years since Kevin Durant has joined the team in the Bay Area, he’s derived enough basketball success to justify the move: two championships and two Finals MVP trophies. But an asterisk in all this basketball success is the overwhelming, constant hate he has received from basketball fans… every day since his decision. There have been all kinds of voices on all kinds of mediums saying all different kinds of assumptions, accusations, and criticisms.
Is this justified? Regardless of whether or not his move should be championed, the standard of hate which KD receives both online and on the court is not justified. There should be a clear distinction between Kevin Durant as a professional basketball player and Kevin Durant as a human being; respect for the latter should not be dissolved because of a professional decision, and that’s where the line is too often crossed by fans.
But here’s another perspective: this path was the most vulnerable, the most unconventional for Durant, and because of that, it should inherently be championed.
Let’s first consider the other paths available for Kevin Durant at the time. If he chose any other team: the Spurs, the Celtics, the Thunder, he would not fail in the eyes of the people. He would be praised for wanting to win a championship “without help” — like a true competitor, like a true superstar. Just like all the other truly great superstars that came before him, win or lose. And if he could not produce an NBA Championship, he would still generally be liked amongst the fans, because even if he lost, at least he lost “without help”. He could play out the rest of his career with little opposition; the basketball world be apathetic in comparison to the immense hatred they have for him currently. In this case, counterintuitively, though his basketball career could fail, his reputation could not.
When looking at KD’s decision from multiple perspectives, picking Golden State as his next destination was not an easy choice. In terms of basketball, he would have to learn to work with 3 other all-stars and share the ball; in terms of environment, he would be in an entirely new location and have to adjust within an extremely short timeframe; and in terms of community, he would have to hear and see hundreds of thousands of fans turning their backs on him. Believing that Kevin Durant did not think through the social repercussions of the move would be foolish — the backlash Lebron faced when making a similar move made clear the consequences of the action. It would be simple to do what was expected of him: to pick Boston, to pick OKC. But by choosing to go to Golden State, Kevin Durant made an individual, personal decision — one that would reveal himself to the world, one that would make him vulnerable to all kinds of reactions.
In spite of all the noise, KD was able to determine what he wanted to focus on, what goals he wanted to achieve: whatever could “[offer] the greatest potential for [his] contribution and personal growth”. And in spite of the conventional paths he could have taken, he made a vulnerable, intentional choice to follow what he dreamed of. That is not easy to do, on any scale, for anyone. It requires strength, it requires will, and it requires the fortitude to put yourself on the line in front of the entire world. Kevin Durant’s decision is an example of taking a leap — and for that, we should celebrate it.
