Kevin Durant is hard to pin down. There is always a feeling of injustice or lack of recognition on the part of the public and observers. The decisions he made since he left OKC, until he left the Warriors to join Brooklyn, go in this direction. KD considers, perhaps rightly, that he should be considered almost unanimously as the best player in the world.
However, even if everyone agrees on its absolutely lethal and indefensible side when it is ready to play, Kevin Durant never really made consensus as n ° 1 of the game. On our side, we put him at the top of our Power Ranking at the end of the 2018 Finals and it seemed pretty obvious to us that the future belonged to him as a major figure in the league. Perhaps it would have been the case again in 2019, without his dramatic injury in the Finals against the Raptors. But fate meant that what could have looked like the beginning of a reign came to an abrupt end. And from this feeling that it is not recognized for its true value, also arose this need to change air and to go to win where nobody has ever won, on the side of Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant started spinning because of LeBron … and the media?
This sensitive issue for KD is discussed in Ethan Strauss’ book “The Victory Machine”, released last April. Strauss recounts in particular a conversation he had with a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, at the end of the 2017 NBA Finals in which Durant left MVP and won for the first time in his career.
“When I spoke to staff members of the 2017 Final Cavs, they were frank: they found that Kevin Durant had dominated LeBron James. One of them even said to me: ‘KD kicked the LeBron’s ass and completely outclassed him in this series. Whenever he needed to score, damn, he got it every time, no matter what LeBron could do.
I was amazed that we didn’t wonder if Kevin Durant had supplanted LeBron as the best player in the world. “
Kevin Durant is very attentive to what is said about him, on TV or on the web. Read or hear that the “King”, whom he also admires, prides his pride daily. We are frankly anxious to see how things will turn out for him in Brooklyn and if he will be able to claim the throne to which he is not alone to claim. During his recovery, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and even LeBron James were not idle …
