What would have happened if Kevin Durant would not have decided to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016? Isiah Thomas, legend of the NBA and the Detroit Pistons of the Bad Boys, thinks very little. This is what he told it, openly, to one of the members of the famous dynasty of the bay franchise, Draymond Greenduring an intervention on his podcast.
“Let me make a bold statement, and I hope this doesn’t bother you,” the former player asks the boisterous power forward of the San Francisco team. “Before Kevin Durant came to Golden State, you were on the verge of pshhh”, he comments, simulating a crashing plane. “You would have been remembered as the team that went 73-9 and lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals after being up 3-1. “It’s probably one of the biggest collapses in NBA Finals history.”develops Thomas.
“Kevin Durant came in that summer, and he really saved all of your basketball legacy. After that you win two championships. The Golden State Warriors dynasty that you’re going to the Hall of Fame for and everything else is cemented in the fact that if Durant doesn’t come that summer, you would be remembered as the 73-9 team and all your legacies would be different“, he finishes.
Green takes it with sportsmanship and takes the blow, “it hasn’t hurt me at all,” despite the fact that those Warriors that Thomas mentions have the honor of being the team with the best record in history in a regular season in the league. NBA, the only one in 77 years of history with less than 10 defeats in 82 games. It is true that they wasted a 3-1 in their favor in the End of 2016who crowned LeBron James on his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers after his two titles in Miami.
After that notorious failure, the Warriors regrouped by signing the most sought-after free agent on the market, a Durant who arrived in exchange for 54.3 million and two seasons in which he was key to chaining two consecutive rings with the franchise. KD was in fact the MVP of those two NBA Finals, although with the perspective of time, as Thomas indicates, who benefited most from his arrival was the legacy of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson y Draymond Greenthe three members who have been present in the four rings of the last decade.
It should be remembered that Curry was not MVP of the Finals until his fourth championship, since Andre Iguodala He took that honor in the first winding of 2015.
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2024-03-14 09:52:27
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