Ever since he left the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant has been labeled as an NBA villain.
That wasn’t fair at first, as KD had a right to pursue a championship, even if it was with the very same Superteam that had beaten him the prior year.
However, that’s starting to become a reality now, as KD has embraced that ‘bad guy’ persona by refusing to embrace criticism and embarking on countless online discussions with fans.
But more than that, the fact that Durant swapped Stephen Curry for Kyrie Irving and the historically embarrassing failure their tenure with the Brooklyn Nets was, it seems like the narrative around KD has now become even more ruthless.
That’s why Fox analyst Chris Broussard believes that if this Phoenix Suns team, with all the talent they have, doesn’t make it to the NBA Finals, it would be Durant’s biggest career failure:
“The Suns are absolutely the team to beat in the West,” Broussard said. “If the Suns don’t at least win the West, if they’re healthy, this is the biggest failure of Kevin Durant’s career.”
"The Suns are absolutely the team to beat in the West. … If the Suns don't at least win the West, if they're healthy, this is the biggest failure of Kevin Durant's career."
— @Chris_Broussard reacts to KD getting traded from Brooklyn to Phoenix: pic.twitter.com/oEJlZQHtSu
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) February 9, 2023
That makes sense to some degree, but we can all argue that KD’s biggest failure has already happened.
He left a team with a winning culture to create a Superteam of his own, yet he couldn’t win with Kyrie and James Harden or later with Ben Simmons.
More than that, Durant is an aging player, and he’s gotten hurt plenty of times since coming back from those major injuries, and he’ll be teaming up with Chris Paul, who’s also old and injury-prone.
He’ll be playing in a tougher Western Conference now, so not making it to the NBA Finals won’t be his biggest failure.
It was teaming up with Kyrie in the first place.
NEXT: Chris Paul Is Very Excited For His New Teammate
