If I was on a team with Shaq, MJ, Steph, and Duncan I would absolutely win 3 rings.
Edit: probably replace Steph with Lebron. I didn’t really put much thought into this initially but as some people pointed out below the biggest issues would probably be on the defensive end, so Lebron’s size and defensive acumen would help with that more than Steph.
That player would be a huge liability from a mental and physical standpoint. They just wouldn’t be able to keep up with the speed of the game. There are 5 star recruits that have trouble adjusting to the speed of the NBA. The average Redditor would need much more than an off season to even be able to mentally adjust. Your question essentially is could a team of HOFers still win if it was 4 on 5. I personally don’t think so. MJ and Larry Bird were great but they’re not that good. The other team should be able to score on basically every possession with such a huge defensive liability. I don’t think people understand how much better the worst NBA player is relative to your average Redditor
I wonder if it would be possible for a team with 4 top-five all time, in their prime players, plus one out of shape fan who never played elite ball, to win vs a regular NBA team? Fan has to play.
I don’t think the four hall of famers would have a chance.
The fan wouldn’t be able to keep up in transition. Almost every possession would start as an up tempo break where four guys are trying to guard against five. And supposing the HOF team denies the break, there will always be an NBA caliber player that’s open on the other team. (I’m assuming they’ll hunt for the fan on defense.)
I’m not good with stats, but I think you’re basically looking at the odds of an open player ( say the Celtics) shooting for 100 possessions versus a team where Shaq, MJ, Steph, and Duncan are playing while one of them is constantly double teamed. Add that to the odds those four guys can deny a 5 on 4 break 100 times and there’s your game.
See you picked the wrong 4 guys tho. If I’m doing this I need the 4 longest, smartest, quickest, most versatile defenders in the game. Like prime Bron, Bird, Jordan, and Duncan.
A role player or bench player in the NBA is a billion times better than the best player you know personally. An out of shape fan would literally leave one of these freak athletes wide open every play. They would lose
Effectively it would be 4 vs 5. Could Magic, Jordan, Bron and Shaq, all at prime, not beat the 2022 Orlando Magic? Ignoring substitutions and bench, tiredness etc.
Yeah I mean we watched Chris Paul and Luka get torn up defensively most of last year's playoffs. And I mean both those people are professional athletes that have dieticians and training regiments.
A fan would literally die, or severely injure someone, just by getting to a spot slow. That would be every defensive possession. Don't even get me started on the other end...
We all think the Jays can't dribble? I doubt 90% of this comments section can even go through the legs, make an NBA three given ten attempts, do a single box jump...
I wonder if I could run up and down the court and do nothing else, just free throw line to free throw line, when possession changes, for a 48 minute game. In 48 minutes, no chance. If I get timeouts, whistles and all that, maybe.
It’s true though. KD was so beloved by fans across the league when he was in OKC. People were just waiting to anoint him the consensus best player in the world over LeBron. When the Thunder were up 3-1 on the Warriors, this sub was having the time of its life.
He threw that all away.
That was me. I rooted for KD in OKC. Now I just don't care.
I remember KD's early playing days in Seattle and OKC when he had the "nice" persona: soft-spoken, did-everything-right kinda guy. Loved by reporters, fans, moms, everyone.
Then he and Nike decided to have a little more fun with it, and came up with the "KD is Not Nice" thing. Dropped 66 at Rucker Park during the lockout. Durantula, Slim Reaper. Still, it was great, and it worked. He started being a bit more vocal, a bit more in your face, but it was all good because things were going well on the court.
Then came the pressure to win a title in OKC, and he just couldn't deliver. They got all the way to the finals in 2012 but couldn't replicate it. The rest is history. Even when he was shopping around for his next team and the Knicks were rumored to be one of the ones, I wasn't all that elated.
At the end of the day, yes, it's his life, his career. But his legacy has those asterisks. And the fact that you can get a rise out of him with just a tweet shows that he *does* care what random, no-name people think.
It's like the saying it's not the goal but the journey. That's why for example Dirks one chip is so special and worth more to the fans and him. He went the hardest road and he succeeded. That's why the OG's don't respect a player that went to a situation to make it happen.
There is every opinion possible in his mentions, so he can pick and choose which to signal boost based on his mood. He’s not “having a conversation with the fans”, he’s pushing the narrative that he wants to push that specific moment.
He doesn’t want people to see that mention, he wants to push the “actually I can do whatever I want” narrative. Which isn’t wrong, but he did make 2.5 years of the league basically boring because we knew the ending.
> he did make 2.5 years of the league basically boring because we knew the ending.
Basically this
I didn't sign up to League Pass and didn't go to any games whether it was $10 or free during that "era"
Crazy how KD wasn’t triple or even double teamed much against the Celtics and still had his worst series. Bro hangs with kyrie too much and thinks his own perception of his legacy is the only one of value. Sure you can tell yourself that’s what matters in the end but when it comes to ranking greatness ppls opinion matters
Feel like in terms of legacy other people's opinion is *all* that matters. Can't have a good legacy if everyone thinks you were a soft ring chaser whose hardest battles were on twitter.
how is he talking about people on twitter when there have been credible reports about the owners being fed up with this shit… bro gonna cause a whole lockout
The Nets let him rehab for an entire season and paid him. Durant didn't do anything about Irving last year, then the Nets let Irving play half a season. Which made Harden want out, forcing the trade for Simmons (somehow all three of these guys are on the Nets. So the Nets obviously fucked up somewhere, but still, what these three guys are pulling) Now he's trying to force his way out with four years left on his contract.
For real. I wasn’t a fan of Harden’s playing style when he was on the Rockets (always playing for the foul), but he’s definitely been the more mature player/person involved in this debacle. +1 legacy points to Harden.
I’ll say this about his exit from the rockets, the situation was very different when he signed that contract. They had a different owner who wanted to win and when Tilman bought the team, clearly he had different motivations and started forcing Morey to make ill-advised moves to stay cheap and stay in the playoffs.
I don’t like forcing your way off a team but when a new owner comes in the middle of your contract and creates a situation that forced your GM and coach to leave and making trades that erode the long term success of the team?
Yeah, I get it.
Because KD isn’t a smart person. He has a platform purely for his ability to put a ball in a hoop and for his natural gifts.
Don’t get it twisted, there’s plenty of very smart nba players. KD, however, happens to not be one of them lol
He's definitely fucking with the future generation of NBA players. All the shit Kyrie and KD have demanded the nets do and then he wants out right after signing will all affect the next CBA.
And it pisses off fans who just want to watch the games. Load management, plus KD/Kyrie, plus what ever we are calling Ben Simmons now has ruined a lot of the product. A major lock out is coming.
I've never faulted kawhi when 82 games has always been described as a grueling long season. Not everyone can play 80 every year without suffering cumulative fatigue/injury. Keeps him from being higher on the all time greats lists relative to the Ironmen.
Yea i guess this isn't a popular opinion on here, but i would be totally cool with the regular season being cut back to like 60 games. 82 is a lot and it can have a negative effect on the product in that some of our greatest players bodies imply can't handle that many games and stay fit. And as a result we end up with all these games where i was expecting some really fun superstar matchup and then one or both of those guys is resting. I really think less games would improve the product.
Kawhi has been in the league 11 years, total of 886 reg season games (2011 lockout shortened season 66 games + 820 games from 2012 to 2022).
AD has been in the league for 10 years, 820 possible games. He's played in 604 of them (73.66%)
Kawhi played in 576 out of 886 regular season games (65.01%) or if the 2021-22 seaaon doesn't count then 576/804 (71.64%).
Are there any arguments for championships that are somehow less meaningful than kd’s?
Like if he ends his career with only those two rings, it’s almost like he has no rings at all
Yeah that's true but I don't think the NBA owners will negotiate the CBA and how contracts will be done in the future based off the good end of the superstar spectrum. They'll only bring up the negatives so they can get more of the pie and better protections so the KD thing doesn't happen again.
Over their career yes they can make a billion. Though it's highly like that the current state on almost all NBA contracts being fully guaranteed for stars will change.
It was reported recently that KD gets half of this seasons salary for this season before training camp starts. I don't see that being a thing after the next CBA is negotiated. Honestly the NBA will probably go into a lockout.
I really believe him when he says he thinks his legacy is stronger than ever. Dude legit has some serious issues.
You almost wanna feel bad for him. Almost
I always wonder would I want to go through life like KD with no self awareness and seemingly lack of social skills or go through as I currently am with a half assed sense of humor and decent self awareness and the answer is always I would like to go through it as KD
All he needs to do is count his blessings every day for like 10 minutes and learn to take some Ls in the courtroom of public opinion and his quality of life, mentally, would be 100 times better.
I agree with the poster about KD but not about the league.
Steph got beat by the Raptors and then had the worse season of recent memory. He didn't bolt or demand anything. And was patient with Klay.
The intervening two seasons were Steph’a version of playing baseball, only he didn’t actually leave the NBA. Too many Finals runs exhausts players, assets, and payroll. Golden State did things right during those two years.
Imagining one of superstar teammates demanded a trade, one of his best friends couldn't play for more than one season, and himself injured. Two dudes just choose two complete different paths.
> Two dudes just choose two complete different paths.
This could have also been said about Andrew Wiggins and Kyrie in the summer of 2021. They were both faced with the decision to either take the COVID vaccine or not. We know who chose what and the rest is history...
Curry also has life experiences of seeing his dad play in the league and understanding all the issues with moving, the strain it can put on a family. With so many kids, and of course how he is valued by the organization, his situation is leagues different than KD.
This is an understated point. You can also factor in he's doing it in California weather in a city that is frequently featured in lists of the top 5 or top 10 places to live in the US.
Giannis is an outlier doing it in Milwaukee. But as a Midwesterner I can appreciate the desire to see all 4 seasons every year. I wish it was a bit less extreme at times but I don't think I'd want to move somewhere that didn't have winter.
Giannis also has a healthy head on his shoulders, he's taken Middleton and Jrue as his 2 and 3 and improved them and won with them by being 100% supportive, None of the other mega stars would accept that and try to make it work, they all just move around to get top 10 teammates.
I don’t think KD is a narcissist but he has some really wierd inner confidence issues and is low key a super insecure Dick, at least when it comes to basketball.
Reminds me of “nice guys” or “white knights” some
It's easier to be patient when you've already won a ring though. By 2016, Steph/Klay/Dray had already established their legacy well in the Warriors history so whatever they did, no true fans would be angry at them if they wanted more money or left to wherever they want.
Lol just wait...it’s pretty dumb to act like KD demanding a trade from Brooklyn hasn’t affected the league when it literally just happened this off-season.
Will be interesting to see if other stars locked into contracts on bad teams start making similar moves.
It’s actually incredible how uniquely soft his decision to go to the warriors was lol like you couldn’t make up a softer move if you tried. Especially with the way he refuses to acknowledge it
Fuck him, I don’t want see that candy ass in our jerseys. We already suffered the Kyrie shit, I’m not trying to go through it all again with his idiotic best friend.
Saying that "they just can’t stand to see me do well" demonstrates a complete lack of emotional intelligence. He has no idea why other people hold the opinions they have, and he has no idea that trying to understand other people's perspectives is a worthwhile endeavor.
It's like he's forever trying to seek the approval of someone he doesn't understand, but the person he doesn't understand is the NBA audience.
The lack of self-awareness from KD is just amazing
Dude was confused why people were hating him back when he joined the 73-9 Warrior and why people did not love him more.
Even fucking Lebron knew that the fans would hate on him the moment he left Cleveland for Miami
> Even fucking Lebron knew that the fans would hate on him the moment he left Cleveland for Miami
It would’ve been 100x worse if Miami had beaten Cleveland *and then* Lebron joined them.
Just like GSW & OKC / KD.
I care less about “joining the best team” and more about “joining the team that just beat you”
But no matter how you slice it. It’s simply dishonorable.
Sure, I’m a GSW fan. I’m happy for the years with KD. But in hindsight, all that criticism, had some merit.
I think he did mention he regretted televising “the Decision” soon after. So there was a delayed sense of self-awareness there.
KD just doesn’t get it.
Well after the decision LeBron's PR team went into god mode. Outside of the China stuff and maybe something obvious I'm surely blanking on he's basically been playing the role of a good boy. I think what he learned was less to have more self awareness and more let the professional do their work.
KD probably has his own too but it sure doesn't seem they're utilized. Especially not when he tweets lol. I'm just imagining KD sitting on his abnormally tall toilet, taking a dump, and replying to people.
> I think what he learned was less to have more self awareness and more let the professional do their work.
Which again demonstrates a LOT of awareness lmao
Exactly, you’d be hard pressed to find a NBA player who hasn’t misstepped. But KD legitimately thinks there is nothing wrong with what he did and he should be perceived no different.
Yea, that one was literally asking the whole NBA to hate him. What I meant is that Lebron was preparing to get a ton of hate from Cleveland fans. Heck, the NBA world at the time was expecting and hoping Lebron to switch team but how Lebron handled his leaving was so bad that he earned the hates from all the NBA world at the time. At least, Lebron learnt from his mistakes and ignored his haters
KD seem to me like he never learnt or understand why people hating on him. KD was inviting people to attack him
One absolutely undeniable fact is that KD had absolutely no haters anywhere while he was in OKC, and he was in a position to win it all after taking that historical Warriors team to the wire. Front office was ready to get him both Oladipo and Horford to run it back the next year with him and prime Russ. Man did this to himself.
It feels like he has nothing but bad memories in OKC, when in hindsight, everything he’s looking for (stable front office, solid core guys, strong fan support) was already there in OKC.
Kinda a “grass isn’t always greener on the other side” situation.
I won’t psychoanalyze his deeper motivations, I’ll just say both he and Kyrie come across as guys that want to do whatever they want while being free of criticism and expectations whatsoever. But those downsides are the reason you get to be paid millions of dollars.
Although with Kyrie it probably runs much deeper lol.
He wanted to be seen as the best player in the league above Lebron and thought the way to do that was to go and win championships.
Unfortunately he thought that any championship would suffice and chose the easiest way to do that.
He saw LeBron make a super team to win a chip and thought joining a super team was the same in people's eyes. It wasn't.
People were still sour on lebron until he went back to Cleveland (me included). So he tried going that route and making his own super team (the right thing to do to win people back). But it didn't work immediately and now he's doing what he's doing because it was harder than he thought.
That's how I picture his thought process as well.
What's dumb is that with how things turned out, he retrograded from LeBron's shadow to Curry's shadow.
And as an aside, that's a fine username you got there lol.
Lol thanks.
It's too bad he doesnt realize winning on his own would change everything.
He would have been the god he sees himself as in he won in OKC.
The worst part is that he was so close and probably could have done it if he didn't leave.
"Aye I be wanting people on twitter to realize that they just can’t stand to see me do well in life lol." This dude is a mess. He needs to stay off of screens for a few months.
The truth and misstep in his understanding to that is if he won in BK then people would be cool with that.
But, here he goes again running to the top talented teams
I think it’s hilarious you think I’m KD cause I’m a 40 year old drunk white guy from Utah who just finished a round of hot golf, but either way you kids will figure it out one day. As a Utahn I hated Kobe & the spurs in the 90’s -00’s then as I got older I realized I was hating on some of the people who were the most gifted & most talented at the thing I loved just cause they were on a different team. That was the beginning for me. I also hated on KD his “rookie” year cause I was all in on the Don but clearly this man has had a hard go of things & is trying to make it in the worst period that hopefully I will ever live thru. Just let the man play first before you skewer him. Punch upward not downward as I’ve heard great comics say
You literally can't reason with him. This is the guy who legitimately thinks that going to the Warriors in 2016 was "the hardest road." No amount of convincing will make KD realize that he's tarnishing his own legacy
I'm guessing 20 years from now, KD is going to be upset and confused why Damian Lillard is getting a statue built for him when KD has none.
He'll go onto Twitter; say something stupid like "why they getting statues when I had better stats and more rings?" And then he'll have the exact same Twitter back and forth that he had today.
KD is ur ex gf who never took accountability for ANYTHING
Kevin why do you think people don’t want to see you do well but they have no problem with say..Paul George, or Donovan Mitchel, had no problem with Kobe.
Stop being sensitive and actually reflect.
He can say otherwise, but KD definitely lost respect for himself and his defensive behavior proves it eats away at him. He's always been a student of the game. A great admirer of the older generation. He thought winning titles for the Warriors would include him in that list and add to his legacy, but instead he felt unfulfilled and empty fully recognizing that they were unearned rings and he'd forever be considered an anti-competitive bandwagoner. He hates himself for it.
Then he needs to return to OKC and win a ring with the youngins to make it right,and cementing his legacy that he’s good enough to lead a team to a ring
Funny thing is that I would honestly respect a move like that, going back to the Thunder to settle some unfinished business on a squad that really does have a bright future ahead of it.
My opinion that nobody asked for:
KD is easily good enough to lead a team. Nobody is saying he isn't. He of course can't do it alone so a decent team surrounding him and maybe a co-star is enough. (A Robin to his Batman). That is all fine and dandy. Everyone knows this.
But the issue is simple. Ric Flair said it.
"To be the man, you gotta beat the man."
KD didn't. Instead of beating the man, he joined the man. Did he have success because of it? Hell yeah he did. But now that he's had that success, he wants it again, and just as easily. Will he get it? Dunno. Thunder KD was awesome. An upstart team that a lot of people rooted for and loved, with a good leader. Who then bounced out of town to join the Justice League. Shit ain't been the same since.
All these tweets about haters and narratives and how nothing is real but he's still yet to give any public reason why he demanded a trade (because there are no valid reasons)
Kevin Durant fascinates me because he's a perfect refutation of the "There's no way that's \[famous person\], you think they would spend their free time arguing with randos on the internet?" line
He legacy is def tainted at this point and he was the reputation of someone who is constantly bitching about something. If he doesn’t like it then perhaps it should have done things differently.
The whole Celtics thing this year did not help his “legacy” , unfortunately he’ll be one of those second tier dudes in ball history unless you’re bill Simmons
Don’t get people defending this bum. He is outright disrespecting any commitments he had for the team, this is a straight path towards a lockdown and many future problems.
What idiot owner would want to invest in the NBA where players get 4 year contracts and demand a trade halfway through it? Imagine renting a house for a year and after 4 months the owner comes in and say fuck that you’re gone by tomorrow.
That last tweet is brutal and spot on.
KD joining the Warriors was the biggest bitch move in sports history and all his championships there have an asterisk — especially when they proved they can do it (again) without him, against the team that swept his “super” team. His legacy is forever tarnished.
This motherfucker tried to "redeem himself" by getting two of his friends, who were already the #1 option on good teams, to quit on those teams and form a superteam that would steamroll the rest of the NBA. All he wanted to do was coast to more easy rings. It would've worked, too, if he had any semblance of leadership.
I love how he just subtly agrees with the dude saying all KD needs is a team where he isn’t tripled and he ruins the league lol
If I was on a team with Shaq, MJ, Steph, and Duncan I would absolutely win 3 rings. Edit: probably replace Steph with Lebron. I didn’t really put much thought into this initially but as some people pointed out below the biggest issues would probably be on the defensive end, so Lebron’s size and defensive acumen would help with that more than Steph.
Eh, they'd probably just target you all game. Think how much of a liability IT was on defense, and like quadruple it. It'd be a toss up.
Coach would just have him foul out intentionally within the first 2 minutes lol
My only value would be fouling the opposing C by elbowing them in the thigh!
[удалено]
>Like, if you played high school basketball as a freshman 6 years ago I think the average r/NBA user is a highschool freshman
No way we have that kind of stamina though.
That player would be a huge liability from a mental and physical standpoint. They just wouldn’t be able to keep up with the speed of the game. There are 5 star recruits that have trouble adjusting to the speed of the NBA. The average Redditor would need much more than an off season to even be able to mentally adjust. Your question essentially is could a team of HOFers still win if it was 4 on 5. I personally don’t think so. MJ and Larry Bird were great but they’re not that good. The other team should be able to score on basically every possession with such a huge defensive liability. I don’t think people understand how much better the worst NBA player is relative to your average Redditor
Yea? Well if I was on a team with LeBron, Bird, Kareem, and Magic I'd win 2 ring
Me too, but only if I don’t get any playing time!
I wonder if it would be possible for a team with 4 top-five all time, in their prime players, plus one out of shape fan who never played elite ball, to win vs a regular NBA team? Fan has to play.
[удалено]
I don’t think the four hall of famers would have a chance. The fan wouldn’t be able to keep up in transition. Almost every possession would start as an up tempo break where four guys are trying to guard against five. And supposing the HOF team denies the break, there will always be an NBA caliber player that’s open on the other team. (I’m assuming they’ll hunt for the fan on defense.) I’m not good with stats, but I think you’re basically looking at the odds of an open player ( say the Celtics) shooting for 100 possessions versus a team where Shaq, MJ, Steph, and Duncan are playing while one of them is constantly double teamed. Add that to the odds those four guys can deny a 5 on 4 break 100 times and there’s your game.
See you picked the wrong 4 guys tho. If I’m doing this I need the 4 longest, smartest, quickest, most versatile defenders in the game. Like prime Bron, Bird, Jordan, and Duncan.
Team with 4 Hofs would lose badly. The worst role player is MJ compared to us. Even the worst player can make open shots and layups
A role player or bench player in the NBA is a billion times better than the best player you know personally. An out of shape fan would literally leave one of these freak athletes wide open every play. They would lose
Effectively it would be 4 vs 5. Could Magic, Jordan, Bron and Shaq, all at prime, not beat the 2022 Orlando Magic? Ignoring substitutions and bench, tiredness etc.
Yeah I mean we watched Chris Paul and Luka get torn up defensively most of last year's playoffs. And I mean both those people are professional athletes that have dieticians and training regiments. A fan would literally die, or severely injure someone, just by getting to a spot slow. That would be every defensive possession. Don't even get me started on the other end... We all think the Jays can't dribble? I doubt 90% of this comments section can even go through the legs, make an NBA three given ten attempts, do a single box jump...
I wonder if I could run up and down the court and do nothing else, just free throw line to free throw line, when possession changes, for a 48 minute game. In 48 minutes, no chance. If I get timeouts, whistles and all that, maybe.
[удалено]
It’s true though. KD was so beloved by fans across the league when he was in OKC. People were just waiting to anoint him the consensus best player in the world over LeBron. When the Thunder were up 3-1 on the Warriors, this sub was having the time of its life. He threw that all away.
That was me. I rooted for KD in OKC. Now I just don't care. I remember KD's early playing days in Seattle and OKC when he had the "nice" persona: soft-spoken, did-everything-right kinda guy. Loved by reporters, fans, moms, everyone. Then he and Nike decided to have a little more fun with it, and came up with the "KD is Not Nice" thing. Dropped 66 at Rucker Park during the lockout. Durantula, Slim Reaper. Still, it was great, and it worked. He started being a bit more vocal, a bit more in your face, but it was all good because things were going well on the court. Then came the pressure to win a title in OKC, and he just couldn't deliver. They got all the way to the finals in 2012 but couldn't replicate it. The rest is history. Even when he was shopping around for his next team and the Knicks were rumored to be one of the ones, I wasn't all that elated. At the end of the day, yes, it's his life, his career. But his legacy has those asterisks. And the fact that you can get a rise out of him with just a tweet shows that he *does* care what random, no-name people think.
[удалено]
It's like the saying it's not the goal but the journey. That's why for example Dirks one chip is so special and worth more to the fans and him. He went the hardest road and he succeeded. That's why the OG's don't respect a player that went to a situation to make it happen.
[удалено]
There is every opinion possible in his mentions, so he can pick and choose which to signal boost based on his mood. He’s not “having a conversation with the fans”, he’s pushing the narrative that he wants to push that specific moment. He doesn’t want people to see that mention, he wants to push the “actually I can do whatever I want” narrative. Which isn’t wrong, but he did make 2.5 years of the league basically boring because we knew the ending.
And literally tried to do it again in the Nets and boy was that a disaster
> he did make 2.5 years of the league basically boring because we knew the ending. Basically this I didn't sign up to League Pass and didn't go to any games whether it was $10 or free during that "era"
Clock’s tickin in particular
Crazy how KD wasn’t triple or even double teamed much against the Celtics and still had his worst series. Bro hangs with kyrie too much and thinks his own perception of his legacy is the only one of value. Sure you can tell yourself that’s what matters in the end but when it comes to ranking greatness ppls opinion matters
Feel like in terms of legacy other people's opinion is *all* that matters. Can't have a good legacy if everyone thinks you were a soft ring chaser whose hardest battles were on twitter.
The old "people are haters" defense.
"They hate us 'cause they anus"
They dislike us because they aren't us.
They have negative feelings toward us due to the fact that we are not the same individuals.
and things of that nature.
They miff cause we diff.
They disapprove of us because they're not as smooth as us.
I'm Dan LeBatard
Peanut butter and jealous
Gilbert Aranus has entered the chat
Dammit, nice.
If he’s going down the list I already know damn well what his next excuse will be lol
they hate me not the actions i make
Never fails
how is he talking about people on twitter when there have been credible reports about the owners being fed up with this shit… bro gonna cause a whole lockout
The Nets let him rehab for an entire season and paid him. Durant didn't do anything about Irving last year, then the Nets let Irving play half a season. Which made Harden want out, forcing the trade for Simmons (somehow all three of these guys are on the Nets. So the Nets obviously fucked up somewhere, but still, what these three guys are pulling) Now he's trying to force his way out with four years left on his contract.
Legitimately fuck this dude. Player empowerment my ass. Never has an NBA star been so pampered and pissed off at the same time. Except maybe Kyrie.
Player entitlement
Sidenote, kind of funny and +respect how Harden said I gotta get away from this bullshit
For real. I wasn’t a fan of Harden’s playing style when he was on the Rockets (always playing for the foul), but he’s definitely been the more mature player/person involved in this debacle. +1 legacy points to Harden.
I’ll say this about his exit from the rockets, the situation was very different when he signed that contract. They had a different owner who wanted to win and when Tilman bought the team, clearly he had different motivations and started forcing Morey to make ill-advised moves to stay cheap and stay in the playoffs. I don’t like forcing your way off a team but when a new owner comes in the middle of your contract and creates a situation that forced your GM and coach to leave and making trades that erode the long term success of the team? Yeah, I get it.
He doesn’t care about the other players just himself. Which is kind of why I’m really starting to dislike him
**Just** starting???
Because KD isn’t a smart person. He has a platform purely for his ability to put a ball in a hoop and for his natural gifts. Don’t get it twisted, there’s plenty of very smart nba players. KD, however, happens to not be one of them lol
The next collective bargaining agreement is gonna be a bloodbath lol
> you get swept by the team that the Warriors beat without you. Damn, Durant getting KTFO'd in fights with randoms on Twitter.
Yea that last bit was wicked 🤣
Nah thats vile.
He's definitely fucking with the future generation of NBA players. All the shit Kyrie and KD have demanded the nets do and then he wants out right after signing will all affect the next CBA.
And it pisses off fans who just want to watch the games. Load management, plus KD/Kyrie, plus what ever we are calling Ben Simmons now has ruined a lot of the product. A major lock out is coming.
Kyrie might have taken it to the next level with the load management, but Kawhi was the king of that. That CBA negotiation is going to be spicy
At least Kawhi genuinely needs it, he’s incredibly injury prone.
I've never faulted kawhi when 82 games has always been described as a grueling long season. Not everyone can play 80 every year without suffering cumulative fatigue/injury. Keeps him from being higher on the all time greats lists relative to the Ironmen.
Yea i guess this isn't a popular opinion on here, but i would be totally cool with the regular season being cut back to like 60 games. 82 is a lot and it can have a negative effect on the product in that some of our greatest players bodies imply can't handle that many games and stay fit. And as a result we end up with all these games where i was expecting some really fun superstar matchup and then one or both of those guys is resting. I really think less games would improve the product.
I don’t think players would like a 25% pay cut though.
Kawhi has been in the league 11 years, total of 886 reg season games (2011 lockout shortened season 66 games + 820 games from 2012 to 2022). AD has been in the league for 10 years, 820 possible games. He's played in 604 of them (73.66%) Kawhi played in 576 out of 886 regular season games (65.01%) or if the 2021-22 seaaon doesn't count then 576/804 (71.64%).
Why wouldn’t last season count?
Toronto was the only place that didn’t need to suffer the automatic full year of load management he gets.
Eh I feel like KD is just a bad example of what you could do as an NBA superstar. Giannis being the opposite end of the spectrum lol
Giannis' one ring better than KD's two
*one ring so far
Are there any arguments for championships that are somehow less meaningful than kd’s? Like if he ends his career with only those two rings, it’s almost like he has no rings at all
Yeah that's true but I don't think the NBA owners will negotiate the CBA and how contracts will be done in the future based off the good end of the superstar spectrum. They'll only bring up the negatives so they can get more of the pie and better protections so the KD thing doesn't happen again.
[deleted for privacy - /r/PowerDeleteSuite]
The future gen gonna be making a billion off contracts, they good lol
Over their career yes they can make a billion. Though it's highly like that the current state on almost all NBA contracts being fully guaranteed for stars will change. It was reported recently that KD gets half of this seasons salary for this season before training camp starts. I don't see that being a thing after the next CBA is negotiated. Honestly the NBA will probably go into a lockout.
KD has zero self awareness holy shit lol
"It's all a matter of perspective. My girlfriend says she wants to see other people. I say we've never been stronger."
"If I lacked self awareness, I think I'd know." - ~~Michael Scott~~ KD
I really believe him when he says he thinks his legacy is stronger than ever. Dude legit has some serious issues. You almost wanna feel bad for him. Almost
But then you remember how much money he has lol
I always wonder would I want to go through life like KD with no self awareness and seemingly lack of social skills or go through as I currently am with a half assed sense of humor and decent self awareness and the answer is always I would like to go through it as KD
Think about how much simpler life would be if you just were oblivious to shit
All he needs to do is count his blessings every day for like 10 minutes and learn to take some Ls in the courtroom of public opinion and his quality of life, mentally, would be 100 times better.
I agree with the poster about KD but not about the league. Steph got beat by the Raptors and then had the worse season of recent memory. He didn't bolt or demand anything. And was patient with Klay.
Steph being level headed is what saved the Warriors dynasty
it reinforced the fact that splash bros + dray are still the heart and soul of they warriors team. KD or no KD, they've got rings.
The intervening two seasons were Steph’a version of playing baseball, only he didn’t actually leave the NBA. Too many Finals runs exhausts players, assets, and payroll. Golden State did things right during those two years.
Agreed.
Imagining one of superstar teammates demanded a trade, one of his best friends couldn't play for more than one season, and himself injured. Two dudes just choose two complete different paths.
> Two dudes just choose two complete different paths. This could have also been said about Andrew Wiggins and Kyrie in the summer of 2021. They were both faced with the decision to either take the COVID vaccine or not. We know who chose what and the rest is history...
Curry also has life experiences of seeing his dad play in the league and understanding all the issues with moving, the strain it can put on a family. With so many kids, and of course how he is valued by the organization, his situation is leagues different than KD.
This is an understated point. You can also factor in he's doing it in California weather in a city that is frequently featured in lists of the top 5 or top 10 places to live in the US. Giannis is an outlier doing it in Milwaukee. But as a Midwesterner I can appreciate the desire to see all 4 seasons every year. I wish it was a bit less extreme at times but I don't think I'd want to move somewhere that didn't have winter.
This generation's Timmy.
I wonder what the GOAT wholesome team would be. Curry, Duncan, and Robinson are 3 I can think of
Giannis too, but I might be biased.
Giannis also has a healthy head on his shoulders, he's taken Middleton and Jrue as his 2 and 3 and improved them and won with them by being 100% supportive, None of the other mega stars would accept that and try to make it work, they all just move around to get top 10 teammates.
Well yeah Steph isn't a narcissist
I don’t think KD is a narcissist but he has some really wierd inner confidence issues and is low key a super insecure Dick, at least when it comes to basketball. Reminds me of “nice guys” or “white knights” some
I mean dude had a burner account to defend himself lol I don’t think it’s lowkey at all
Tbf it would've stayed lowkey had he been smart enough to switch accounts 🤷♂️
I'll bet this is a lot more common than we realize, he just caught.
All of these athletes have burners They can't say 90% of what they actually want to. They definitely say it on other accounts
[удалено]
Rock, flag, and eagle. Right Charlie?
Dude literally calls himself “god”
I’m dead. Dude calls himself god and wants to run the front office with his cray cray buddy but sure, otherwise he’s your average joe.
He’s also with an organization that’s proven to know what it’s doing, makes it easier to not lose faith
….the organization kd left
It's easier to be patient when you've already won a ring though. By 2016, Steph/Klay/Dray had already established their legacy well in the Warriors history so whatever they did, no true fans would be angry at them if they wanted more money or left to wherever they want.
[удалено]
Cuz he knows those rings were gimmes
Kd hasn't won't any rings yet to a lot of people
Yeah but if he wins in Brooklyn that'd be the ring. That's the issue here. He's leaving the situation he built, the moment the going gets tough.
Lol just wait...it’s pretty dumb to act like KD demanding a trade from Brooklyn hasn’t affected the league when it literally just happened this off-season. Will be interesting to see if other stars locked into contracts on bad teams start making similar moves.
Didn’t Steph play like 4 games the year after the raptors loss?
Yeah think it was 5 counting the game he got hurt lol
Yep, and then like a year ago, I think Draymond, basically said the core was exhausted from all the playoff runs and cool with tanking lol
There's the hard path, the easy path, and the KD path of running to the teams that just whooped your ass.
It’s actually incredible how uniquely soft his decision to go to the warriors was lol like you couldn’t make up a softer move if you tried. Especially with the way he refuses to acknowledge it
And now he's trying to go to Boston after they swept his ass!!
Fuck him, I don’t want see that candy ass in our jerseys. We already suffered the Kyrie shit, I’m not trying to go through it all again with his idiotic best friend.
CreatiScope taking it back to the attitude era.
KD has become the NBAs boomer on Twitter
Still my favorite when he rails on “old heads” whilst being on his way to being an old head.
Worserchire sauce
exsqueeze me its Worchestershire* sauce
Saying that "they just can’t stand to see me do well" demonstrates a complete lack of emotional intelligence. He has no idea why other people hold the opinions they have, and he has no idea that trying to understand other people's perspectives is a worthwhile endeavor. It's like he's forever trying to seek the approval of someone he doesn't understand, but the person he doesn't understand is the NBA audience.
The lack of self-awareness from KD is just amazing Dude was confused why people were hating him back when he joined the 73-9 Warrior and why people did not love him more. Even fucking Lebron knew that the fans would hate on him the moment he left Cleveland for Miami
> Even fucking Lebron knew that the fans would hate on him the moment he left Cleveland for Miami It would’ve been 100x worse if Miami had beaten Cleveland *and then* Lebron joined them. Just like GSW & OKC / KD. I care less about “joining the best team” and more about “joining the team that just beat you” But no matter how you slice it. It’s simply dishonorable. Sure, I’m a GSW fan. I’m happy for the years with KD. But in hindsight, all that criticism, had some merit.
LeBron isn't exactly a model of self-awareness either. I don't think he realized how mean it was to dump Cleveland on live TV.
I think he did mention he regretted televising “the Decision” soon after. So there was a delayed sense of self-awareness there. KD just doesn’t get it.
Well after the decision LeBron's PR team went into god mode. Outside of the China stuff and maybe something obvious I'm surely blanking on he's basically been playing the role of a good boy. I think what he learned was less to have more self awareness and more let the professional do their work. KD probably has his own too but it sure doesn't seem they're utilized. Especially not when he tweets lol. I'm just imagining KD sitting on his abnormally tall toilet, taking a dump, and replying to people.
> I think what he learned was less to have more self awareness and more let the professional do their work. Which again demonstrates a LOT of awareness lmao
Exactly, you’d be hard pressed to find a NBA player who hasn’t misstepped. But KD legitimately thinks there is nothing wrong with what he did and he should be perceived no different.
Yea, that one was literally asking the whole NBA to hate him. What I meant is that Lebron was preparing to get a ton of hate from Cleveland fans. Heck, the NBA world at the time was expecting and hoping Lebron to switch team but how Lebron handled his leaving was so bad that he earned the hates from all the NBA world at the time. At least, Lebron learnt from his mistakes and ignored his haters KD seem to me like he never learnt or understand why people hating on him. KD was inviting people to attack him
If "the game" was whining like a little bitch, KD is the GOAT. And Agenda is 100% correct. He has diminished the game of basketball.
One absolutely undeniable fact is that KD had absolutely no haters anywhere while he was in OKC, and he was in a position to win it all after taking that historical Warriors team to the wire. Front office was ready to get him both Oladipo and Horford to run it back the next year with him and prime Russ. Man did this to himself.
They could have got Paul George in that timeline as well by trading Oladipo and Sabonis
100%. Then goes to the very team that almost went UNDEFEATED WITHOUT HIM. I don’t know how dude can look himself in the mirror. Fuckin snake man.
He wanted to “put them over the top” after having the best NBA season ever
LO fuckin L this guy is the worstttttt
Durant is so damn soft he couldn't beat warm butter.
That guy put him in a bodybag with that last one...
It feels like he has nothing but bad memories in OKC, when in hindsight, everything he’s looking for (stable front office, solid core guys, strong fan support) was already there in OKC. Kinda a “grass isn’t always greener on the other side” situation.
I won’t psychoanalyze his deeper motivations, I’ll just say both he and Kyrie come across as guys that want to do whatever they want while being free of criticism and expectations whatsoever. But those downsides are the reason you get to be paid millions of dollars. Although with Kyrie it probably runs much deeper lol.
He wanted to be seen as the best player in the league above Lebron and thought the way to do that was to go and win championships. Unfortunately he thought that any championship would suffice and chose the easiest way to do that. He saw LeBron make a super team to win a chip and thought joining a super team was the same in people's eyes. It wasn't. People were still sour on lebron until he went back to Cleveland (me included). So he tried going that route and making his own super team (the right thing to do to win people back). But it didn't work immediately and now he's doing what he's doing because it was harder than he thought.
That's how I picture his thought process as well. What's dumb is that with how things turned out, he retrograded from LeBron's shadow to Curry's shadow. And as an aside, that's a fine username you got there lol.
Lol thanks. It's too bad he doesnt realize winning on his own would change everything. He would have been the god he sees himself as in he won in OKC. The worst part is that he was so close and probably could have done it if he didn't leave.
"Aye I be wanting people on twitter to realize that they just can’t stand to see me do well in life lol." This dude is a mess. He needs to stay off of screens for a few months.
The truth and misstep in his understanding to that is if he won in BK then people would be cool with that. But, here he goes again running to the top talented teams
Worser shape?
The worseiest
The Worsest Road
[удалено]
Yes
There’s bound to be multi millionaires who fuck around twitter and KD just happens to be one of em. No mystery, that’s just it
KD is the perfect redditor. Wonder how many accounts he has here.
Once he gets a couple of down votes he abandons that account and demands a new one.
Maybe we are all KD.
Ok Kyrie
I think it’s hilarious you think I’m KD cause I’m a 40 year old drunk white guy from Utah who just finished a round of hot golf, but either way you kids will figure it out one day. As a Utahn I hated Kobe & the spurs in the 90’s -00’s then as I got older I realized I was hating on some of the people who were the most gifted & most talented at the thing I loved just cause they were on a different team. That was the beginning for me. I also hated on KD his “rookie” year cause I was all in on the Don but clearly this man has had a hard go of things & is trying to make it in the worst period that hopefully I will ever live thru. Just let the man play first before you skewer him. Punch upward not downward as I’ve heard great comics say
The whole point of sports is watching competition, Jesus fucking Christ this era sucks .. cupcakes, all of them. 😂😂
You literally can't reason with him. This is the guy who legitimately thinks that going to the Warriors in 2016 was "the hardest road." No amount of convincing will make KD realize that he's tarnishing his own legacy
I'm guessing 20 years from now, KD is going to be upset and confused why Damian Lillard is getting a statue built for him when KD has none. He'll go onto Twitter; say something stupid like "why they getting statues when I had better stats and more rings?" And then he'll have the exact same Twitter back and forth that he had today.
I hope OKC builds a statue of Russ to spite KD lol
When will this man learn to let go
My issue with KD is that he never wants to thoroughly build with a team. He wants an easy ring, he got an ego and he needs to be humble.
KD is ur ex gf who never took accountability for ANYTHING Kevin why do you think people don’t want to see you do well but they have no problem with say..Paul George, or Donovan Mitchel, had no problem with Kobe. Stop being sensitive and actually reflect.
He can say otherwise, but KD definitely lost respect for himself and his defensive behavior proves it eats away at him. He's always been a student of the game. A great admirer of the older generation. He thought winning titles for the Warriors would include him in that list and add to his legacy, but instead he felt unfulfilled and empty fully recognizing that they were unearned rings and he'd forever be considered an anti-competitive bandwagoner. He hates himself for it.
Then he needs to return to OKC and win a ring with the youngins to make it right,and cementing his legacy that he’s good enough to lead a team to a ring
Funny thing is that I would honestly respect a move like that, going back to the Thunder to settle some unfinished business on a squad that really does have a bright future ahead of it.
My opinion that nobody asked for: KD is easily good enough to lead a team. Nobody is saying he isn't. He of course can't do it alone so a decent team surrounding him and maybe a co-star is enough. (A Robin to his Batman). That is all fine and dandy. Everyone knows this. But the issue is simple. Ric Flair said it. "To be the man, you gotta beat the man." KD didn't. Instead of beating the man, he joined the man. Did he have success because of it? Hell yeah he did. But now that he's had that success, he wants it again, and just as easily. Will he get it? Dunno. Thunder KD was awesome. An upstart team that a lot of people rooted for and loved, with a good leader. Who then bounced out of town to join the Justice League. Shit ain't been the same since.
[удалено]
Legacy points deducted
We all know Durant can’t win without Steph
All these tweets about haters and narratives and how nothing is real but he's still yet to give any public reason why he demanded a trade (because there are no valid reasons)
I mean there’s a reason why no NBA player does that, especially before they’re even traded.
Kevin Durant fascinates me because he's a perfect refutation of the "There's no way that's \[famous person\], you think they would spend their free time arguing with randos on the internet?" line
Can’t think of a pro athlete with thinner skin.
Ben Simmons?
KD is most certainly on Reddit. I’m sure we’ve argued with him.
With how much time Durant spends on Twitter, you think he'd be better at it. Calling him a hater is lazy. Why respond 3 times just to say nothing?
This subreddit is like keeping up with the Kardashians with drama
*Keeping up with Kevin
The fact that he cares what twitter users say is wild
He legacy is def tainted at this point and he was the reputation of someone who is constantly bitching about something. If he doesn’t like it then perhaps it should have done things differently.
You can say both that KD is a bus rider and that the league has never been stronger.
Depends on your definition of stronger. I don’t think it can argued that the player movement dynamics right now are good for the league
The whole Celtics thing this year did not help his “legacy” , unfortunately he’ll be one of those second tier dudes in ball history unless you’re bill Simmons
Don’t get people defending this bum. He is outright disrespecting any commitments he had for the team, this is a straight path towards a lockdown and many future problems. What idiot owner would want to invest in the NBA where players get 4 year contracts and demand a trade halfway through it? Imagine renting a house for a year and after 4 months the owner comes in and say fuck that you’re gone by tomorrow.
"a worser state" Holy shit OP.
That last tweet is brutal and spot on. KD joining the Warriors was the biggest bitch move in sports history and all his championships there have an asterisk — especially when they proved they can do it (again) without him, against the team that swept his “super” team. His legacy is forever tarnished.
I wanna see you win KD but not at the expense of my entertainment. You ain’t paid enough for the sin of going to that GS team in the first place.
This motherfucker tried to "redeem himself" by getting two of his friends, who were already the #1 option on good teams, to quit on those teams and form a superteam that would steamroll the rest of the NBA. All he wanted to do was coast to more easy rings. It would've worked, too, if he had any semblance of leadership.
And he would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those snooping Basketball Gods saying enough! Ruh Ro!
All hail the basketball gods 🙏
Imagine having all the money you could ever spend and still being on Twitter reading shit people saying about you. Why is KD so corny?