Does Kevin Durant Suck For Going to Golden State?
The undeniable truth is that NBA free agency is better than the entire NBA regular season. On Monday, the NBA equivalent of Luke joining the dark side happened when Kevin Durant reported that he would join the Golden State Warriors.
This is an entirely different animal from the LeBron decision. James left a team that had no future to build his own super team. Durant left a title favorite for the Western Conference All-Star team. I mean seriously, does GSW now have 4 players that could start on the All-Star team? Arguably yes. Had the Warriors won, Draymond Green would have been Finals MVP. Durant just turned the Warriors into that thing from Transformers 2 that ate the pyramid.
So here’s the question: Does that mean Kevin Durant sucks? I mean, we have to consider the conversation that Durant is copping out. To decide, let’s evaluate if this move hurts or helps him from legacy, brand, star status, title race, twitter approval rating, personal and financial standpoints:
Legacy: Obviously this hurts. He joined the team that gave his team a crushing defeat in the conference finals, and instead of sticking with his squad that had just made a trade that would have made them title favorites. If he wins championships with GSW, they’ll always have an asterisk by them. Verdict: Hurts
Brand: His brand won’t take a very big hit, because he’ll be playing every night with the best team ever and they’ll be on TV 24/7, but Nike is reportedly upset with the decision. Durant will now be elevating the brand of their chief rival Under Armour’s main man Steph Curry. Verdict: Hurts
Star Status: He’s definitely more polarizing as a Warrior. Immediately he’s the top story in the NBA for a full season. Also, young kids (middle school and below) either love Curry or Durant; in their book LeBron is an afterthought. Now that the two play together, there is no stopping their stardom. Verdict: Helps
Title Race: Ok. Verdict: Helps
Twitter Approval Rating: So far, Durant is catching significantly less hell on the internet than LeBron did, but LeBron is the most criticized non-political figure in the history of the United States. In general the response has been negative, and expect the haters to come out of the woodwork when the team doesn’t win their first 40 games. Verdict: Hurts
Personal: Durant doesn’t have kids, so that won’t be an issue, and he gets to move to California and no longer live in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City definitely isn’t Milwaukee, but it can’t be that great. Verdict: Helps
Financial: Pretty cut and dry here. He took a pay cut to be a Warrior. Verdict: Hurts
So there you have it. Kevin Durant seems to be an okay guy, but as of today and for the foreseeable future (until he returns to OKC to win a title, that’s the standard now), he just might suck.
