Why I Can Not, Will Not, & Shall Not Give Any Respect To Kevin Durant

I’m not in hot take business. In fact, I despise it. I feel First Take is an awful show that it is just in for ratings. With all that being said, I am about to enter the hot take zone after this article. In case you have been living under the rock, you heard that the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. They won the Finals 4—1, finished the postseason  at 16—1, and were led by the Finals MVP, Kevin Durant. Normally, I would praise the champions for what they accomplished, but I’m not doing that today. Today I am here to bash the coward known as Kevin Durant.

You guys know the story already, the Warriors lost the Cavaliers in last year’s Finals and they went out and signed Kevin Durant. So they improved their team and it paid off, so I have no issue with that. But now that it’s happened and the way it happened, I don’t believe Kevin Durant earned this ring. Now super teams are nothing new to the NBA, that’s a fact. You can say it started when the Boston Celtics went out and got Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and it got crazy when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined the Miami Heat. But this? This is 1000 times worse.

First off, when Allen and Garnett joined the 24 win Celtics, they were at the end of their primes as they were both over 30 (along with Paul Pierce). They were also traded for and not signed. The Celtics were just fortunate that they had so many assists to give up (Maybe history repeats itself this summer). As for the Heat, yes that was worse; but it’s not as bad as people think. After all, the Heat only won 47 games the year before. They were not a championship team before James and Bosh got there. Both the Celtics and the Heat also had to fight their way to get to the top. That Celtics team went through two 7 game series, beat the defending Eastern Conference Champs, and the MVP of the league that year in Kobe Bryant. As for the Heat, after losing to Dallas the year before; they beat the Celtics in an epic 7 game series and upset the Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City Thunder to win the Championship. THEY BOTH EARNED IT!

Now we get to the Warriors and Kevin Durant. The Warriors won their championship in 2015 Championship after winning 67 games. They proceeded to break the single season record with 73 wins. After trailing 3—1 to the Kevin Durant led OKC, they came back and advanced to the Finals again. Then the tables turned and they blew a 3—1 series lead and lost the Finals. It was a choke in every sense of the word. But if things went a certain way, they win that series and are back to back champs. They were already the definition of a super team. As for Kevin Durant, his team also blew a 3—1 lead but they went down swinging to the Warriors. So logic would say that he would want to come back better and get revenge right? NOPE IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM JOIN THEM!

Durant joined fellow All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green to form a BIG 4. Not to mention that they are all under the age of 30. So guess what happened, they steamrolled everyone in the regular season (winning 67 games) and steamrolled everyone in the playoffs. The only reason that they lost that Game 4 in the Finals was because they didn’t try on defense. How else do you explain them giving up 137 points in regulation? If they actually tried, they sweep the postseason. The Warriors aren’t a super team; they are a goddamn All-Star Team. Yes, Kevin Durant played well; but he didn’t face any pressure what so ever. He got on the back of a historic team on waltz to the finish line. He did not face any stain and he didn’t have to overcome any adversity. And now we want to actually give him credit for winning a ring? No. I can’t and I won’t. Kevin Durant just taught us that it’s better to abandon ship (in your prime no less) and take the easy way. Hopefully history remembers him that way because that’s his legacy. He’s an NBA champion but a coward of a person. Oh yea, and I hoped you enjoyed this shitty playoffs because it’s going to be like this for the next 5 years.

Written By: Steven Santoro (SVS_1993)