Durant’s debatable decision
Kevin Durant’s decision to leave OKC has angered many, Casey Boguslaw explains why.
I am angry about Kevin Durant’s decision to join the Golden State Warriors. I’m angry for the same reasons that make some excited. I’ve already been in several debates defending my reasoning and the gap that I am noticing develop is my feelings on sports in general. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I enjoy athletes overcoming adversity instead of choosing the easy path to a title.
The largest defense of Durant’s decision is that basketball is a business and he made a business decision. The NBA is a business but it’s a business that organizes a competitive sport. At its core, basketball is a competition. As a sports fan, I try to ignore the business of it all as much as possible. I enjoy the 48 minutes after the basketball is tipped, and I try to not get bogged down by what happens outside the lines. I hope that the athletes leave the business decisions up to which shoe they’ll sponsor. Also as a sports fan, I want to see the best competition as possible. Of course above all, I want to see the teams I root for win. If I don’t have a rooting interest, I want the most competitive possibility imaginable. Give me five overtimes, give me players going head-to-head scoring 50 points apiece. I enjoy seeing the competitive nature in athletes. I feel this way about all sports, but basketball puts it to the highest level. With it being 5-on-5, no sport focuses on the singular battles as much as basketball.
The NBA is never going to have true competitive balance, but Kevin Durant lessened it with his move today. Another defense of Durant is — wouldn’t you, Casey Boguslaw, the financial analyst with a writing hobby make the same decision? If ESPN offered me a job, I would have of course accept, but the field of financial analysts or sports writers is much different than the NBA. I have zero interest in what any other financial analyst is accomplishing at their job, nor do I have any interest where my legacy ends up in the finance professional hall of fame.
I took huge issue when LeBron James made his Decision in 2010 for the same reasons, but I believe Kevin Durant has repeated LeBron’s mistakes, and he made them at a much grander level. Much like LeBron with the Cavaliers, the Thunder formed their team around Durant. The Thunder (then Sonics) were at the lowest level for an NBA team, with the second pick in the draft (the Cavs with the first before LeBron), and got supremely fortunate that an all-time great became a possibility. The Thunder tried for ten years to give Durant everything they could to build around him and like the Cavs, ended up losing one NBA Finals while getting close several times. When LeBron left Cleveland, there was observable frustration in his last season there, and it did seem that he had hit the end of the road there. The Thunder were one quarter away from reaching the NBA Finals this year — a Finals that they would have been favorited to win. Kevin Durant may not owe Oklahoma City a darn thing, but they did little to push him out the door.
LeBron didn’t go to the team that had defeated him — Durant has. LeBron didn’t go to a team that the majority of its core had just won a championship and was one game away from a repeat — Durant is. If people thought LeBron was choosing the easy way out joining forces with two other superstars, Durant is taking that to a new extreme.
The hindsight belief on LeBron’s Decision is it was a reasonable choice, but airing the funeral of the City of Cleveland was a disaster. A lot of people said making it a public ordeal was selfish — even though most of the funds raised went to charity. Durant made his decision in The Players Tribune — an asset he partially owns. One-upped him on selfishness too.
For the argument that this will make the 2016–17 season more entertaining, I find that hard to grasp. The Warriors just went 73–9, there’s no topping that. The Thunder and Spurs were their best competition — we know about the Thunder, but it looks like the Spurs may have finally hit the end of this reign (never say never). Some will find it compelling to see how the team meshes with Durant, but I have to imagine there won’t be many growing pains due to a lack of competition. There isn’t a surer bet than the Warriors reaching the Finals. I’ll be excited in June, but the regular season doesn’t appear to be scintillating to any degree (my opinion that is also brought down by the disaster that will be my Bulls).
Durant didn’t make this decision for money — the Thunder, or several other teams could have offered him just as much money this season. He made the decision to win — I get that. But frankly, where will winning this year, with this team, get him? Durant has the ability to go down as one of the best to ever play the game. There have been few players ever, possibly none, to have his size and skillset. Winning a championship with this team won’t get him close to that level. The Warriors will always be Steph Curry’s team. If they win, the credit will still mainly go to him. There’s a reason Scottie Pippen isn’t mentioned in the top players to ever play the game. Even though he has as many championships, Jordan receives the bulk of the credit. Durant could be happy being Scottie Pippen, but couldn’t he be more?
I believe there is a sense of loyalty that Durant is abandoning by leaving OKC, but if you don’t that’s fine. There may have been several issues behind the scenes that an outsider has no idea about. I didn’t think there was a chance he’d leave from the little I knew about the situation. I wanted to see him and Russell Westbrook win the title for OKC. If he did leave, my dream was for him to join the Boston Celtics. Not only would he have still been in the position as best player on the team, but he would have positioned himself as LeBron’s rival in the East. That’s a true mark of a competitor. That’s what I look for in an athlete. Like LeBron before him, Durant has not made that decision. No, his decision was the less entertaining one.
Originally published at thereadoptional.com on July 4, 2016.
