The Kevin Durant saga

We are not even a month removed from a thrilling seven game NBA Finals series, and it already seems like the distant past thanks to free agency and the draft. Former MVP Derrick Rose is on the move from Chicago to New York, Ben Simmons is on the way to Philadelphia, and Dwyane Wade, who seemed destined to stay in Miami forever, is the newest member of the Chicago Bulls. However, what was clearly the biggest move of the offseason was the decision of Kevin Durant to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with the Golden State Warriors.

Before I delve into this more deeply, let me give you some background on how I feel about superstar NBA players moving from team to team. Durant was a free agent. Emphasis on the word FREE. If you look up the term "free agent" on dictionary.com, it specifically references sports. It defines the term as "a professional athlete who is not under contract and is free to auction off his or her services." Free to auction off his or her services. Nowhere in the definition does it mention where the athlete grew up. Nowhere does it mention the team he was drafted by. Nowhere does it mention what the outside world deems right or wrong. He is free to auction off his services. So, as is the case with pretty much every NBA discussion in 2016, let's relate this to LeBron James.

When James left Cleveland in 2010 as a free agent and decided to sign with the Miami Heat, the outside world was highly critical of him doing so. And by outside world, I mean fans of all the teams that he did not sign with who would have loved him if he signed with their favorite team. In retrospect, I do believe that he made a mistake in broadcasting his announcement live on television, but in no other way do I find any fault in his choice to join the Heat. We were all watching the telecast, and if James decided to sign with a team other than Miami, the people in his new city would love him and never criticize him at all. We were all watching, and if you hold it against him that he did not sign with your team, then you are lying to yourself. I cannot prove that, but I stand 100% behind my belief that it is true.

So with that said, let's look at Kevin Durant's decision to sign (as a free agent, don't forget) with the Golden State Warriors. When it was first mentioned earlier in the year that Durant might even be considering signing with Golden State, I think most of us thought it was crazy and that it would never happen. The Warriors were coming off a championship season, and then proceeded to win an NBA record 73 games and reach the Finals again. Was it somehow possible that this team, seemingly at the peak of its power, actually bring on one of the best players in the game? I doubted it, but like many others, I was surprisingly wrong. Golden State has had two magical seasons in a row, and despite losing to the Cavaliers in the Finals a month ago, they just added Kevin Durant. It seems too crazy to actually be true. However, in this day and age, it is clearly a reality.

This is a video game move. It can't be true, can it? One of the all-time great teams has just somehow added one of the greatest players in the game, at the expense of one of its biggest rivals. This is not LeBron leaving Cleveland to join Miami. This is bigger than that. This is not Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining the Lakers to try to get a ring at the end of their careers. It is bigger than that. When the Boston Celtics put together their "big three" of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, it was due to trades and not free agency. Shaquille O'Neal is one of the most dominant and beloved players to ever play the game and he played for seemingly half of the teams in the NBA. This is not any of that. Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors is unprecedented. No matter what your age is and no matter what your opinion of him now is, one thing we can all agree on is that we have never before seen anything like this.

When LeBron James left Cleveland and joined the Miami Heat, he did not do what Kevin Durant did. James' last series with the Cavaliers was a loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. That image of James walking off the court and taking off his jersey after losing to Boston will never be forgotten. It seemed like the perfect indication of what was to come. However you viewed it at the time, his decision to sign with the Heat after that season only enhanced the belief of many that he had in a way given up on the Cavaliers. The Miami Heat were a rival in the conference, but they had not just eliminated the Cavaliers. The Celtics had eliminated them, and that is why Durant's decision needs to be seen as more of a stunner than James' decision.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder held a three games to one advantage over the Golden State Warriors. It seemed as if Durant and James were on the way to another collision course in the NBA Finals. However, a funny thing happened along the way, and the Thunder lost three consecutive games. The Warriors had eliminated them. Not only was the collapse worse than what happened with James against Boston, but what Durant did was, in my eyes, even more so.

Like I said before, as a free agent, Durant is free to play wherever he wants. Some people may believe that he owes it to the fans in Oklahoma City to stay there, but in all honestly, he does not. Plenty of NBA players would love to play their entire career with one team, but that does not always happen. Remember Hakeem Olajuwon playing for the Raptors? Remember Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards? I mentioned Karl Malone and Gary Payton before, and the same goes for them.

The difference between those guys and Durant is the point in their careers that they decided to change teams. Olajuwon, Malone, Jordan, and Payton all joined their second teams when they were past the prime of their careers. Durant is still in the prime of his career. In fact, Durant is not even 30 years old, and he probably has a whole lot left in the tank to remain a top player in the league. That is why this is unprecedented. Compare his move to James' all you want, but Durant left his original team to join the one team in the Western Conference that was better than his. The Thunder had a firm grasp on their series against Golden State, but they let it slip away. For that reason, and that reason alone, Durant has entered a category entirely of his own.

Many current and former players have criticized Durant for what he decided to do, and I cannot argue with anyone that feels what he did was in some ways "cheap" or "weak." I totally see their point of view. However, while I see where they are coming from, I am not totally on their side. Durant was free to do whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was to join the Warriors. The majority of fans around the league may not like it, but they will just have to deal with it. We will see once the games start next season how they react to him and the Warriors. If he gets booed every time he touches the ball it would not surprise me.

It was his choice to make, and he made it. He made the bed and now he has to lie in it. None of us know what will happen next season. The Cavaliers still seem fully able to repeat as champions, but Durant joining the Warriors has made Golden State the clear cut favorites to win it all. Durant may have been eliminated by the team he just joined, and he will have to face the public backlash that comes along with it. Obviously, he is willing to do just that.

While I cannot say for sure who will be on top of the NBA world a year from now, what I can say for sure is that the expectations of Kevin Durant have just arguably become higher than any expectations of any superstar in the history of the sport. 73 wins may be a reach, but we saw a few weeks ago that 73 wins means nothing if it is not punctuated by an NBA title. An NBA title is the only way that Durant can prove this move was worth it. Quite honestly, for his decision to be worth it, he will probably have to win multiple titles, but let's first focus on winning just one.

Was it "cheap" for Durant to join the Warriors? Possibly, yes it was. If you argued that it was definitely so, I would not have a problem with it. Even so, as a free agent, he was entitled to join any team he wanted to, and he chose Golden State. Burn his jersey in Oklahoma if you want, but you are doing nothing other than trying to get on TV via YouTube or Twitter. Think less of him if you want, but I am sure that your opinion does not matter to him.

At the end of the day, in the NBA as we currently know it, nothing matters more than championship rings. Bill Russell and his teammates set the standard with the Celtics years and years ago, and that is still the ultimate judge of any and all players. Jordan has six. Kobe has five. LeBron has three. Durant has zero. In the year 2046, long after Durant has retired, the scoring titles and All Star appearances will be nice, but he will not want to be mentioned with Karl Malone and Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson. All of those guys were spectacular in their day, but none of them reached the pinnacle of the sport.

After Harrison Barnes and Matthew Dellavedova and Steven Adams are forgotten names, Kevin Durant will be judged by how many titles he wins. Our children will not care what team he played for when he won those titles. They will not care who was hurt or suspended in any particular game of any particular series. When they type Kevin Durant into the search bar on Google, the first thing they will see is how many titles he won, and I think Durant has realized that.

Call him and his choice to join the Warriors whatever you want to call it. You are entitled to your opinion. My opinion is that he can play anywhere he chooses. However, my opinion is also that, as of today, he has chosen to take on more pressure than any superstar, in any sport, has ever known.

Anything less than an NBA championship in 2017 for Kevin Durant is a failure. Don't give me injuries. Don't give me bad calls. Don't give me tough defense or anything else. Give me a title, or you have not done what you should do. The Spurs and Clippers and Cavaliers will stand strong, but there are no more excuses for Kevin Durant. It is championship or bust.

Daily NBA Update: As I mentioned before, Dwyane Wade surprised the basketball world and signed with the Chicago Bulls yesterday. It is tough to picture Wade ever playing for a team other than the Miami Heat, but just as this piece has emphasized, the bottom line is winning. If Wade thinks his best chance to win is in Chicago, then more power to him.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: A tough loss last night has made it now nine losses in the last 11 games. Zack Greinke is headed to the disabled list and Shelby Miller is now 2-9. On the bright side, Paul Goldschmidt is once again headed to the All Star game, but if that is the only positive sign of the first half, then it is a problem. The team ends the first half with a three game set in San Francisco.

Daily Giants Update: We are now just over two months away from Week 1 in Dallas, and with the way the Diamondbacks have been playing thus far, 4:25 PM on September 11th cannot come fast enough.