Kevin Durant – A True Superstar Who Wants to Be a Champion

Sports fans waited breathlessly for Kevin Durant to decide on which team he would choose in the NBA’s free agency derby just as the world waited for the EU vote in Great Britain. Well almost.

So the Oklahoma City great picked the Golden State Warriors and many people were shocked. I don’t understand why.

All Durant did was make a logical decision that in his desire to play for a World Champion his best bet was to sign on with the Warriors and that the amount of his contract was not the ultimate factor.
Look, Durant was going to cash in no matter which team he selected. I thought that other than staying with the Thunder, Golden State was the place to go. He likely figured staying with OKC was iffy at best in his chances to be a champion, especially not knowing what Russell Westbrook would do next year.
The other teams just made bids and prayed. They had no chance.

To discuss his decision in the terms of his being THE dominant player on his team simply never understood the player.
Kevin Durant is an unselfish team player, in the mold of the great Tim Duncan of the Spurs.
I know the Warriors have some problems with depth right now, but that will work itself out before long.
All Golden State needs to do is not be obsessed with their regular season record and simply prepare for the playoffs as San Antonio has done for years. Rest your key performers. Don’t tire them out before the season that counts. The second season.

What boggles the mind are players who are signed to incredibly bloated money deals who haven’t earned them. How about Timothy Mozgov, who agreed to a 4 year 64 million dollar contract with the Lakers. The same Timothy Mozgov who lost his starting job with the Cavaliers this year and played only a total of 23 minutes in this year’s NBA Finals. Or Mike Conley. Conley signed the largest contract in NBA history, 153 million dollars over 5 years. A player who has never been ranked in the top three at his position, never been an All-Star, and was out with an injury the entire season before last.

You can talk about an increased salary cap all you want. But these signings are ridiculous. I’ll be the first to say if teams are willing to pay that kind of money for that kind of talent, it’s no fault obviously for the player to accept it.

But I do know now of at least two NBA players who are comfortable enough never to be concerned whether they win an NBA title or not. We’ve seen it countless times in the NFL when teams pay bloated sums for a player who can then rest easy.

So there’s a big difference between average athletes receiving a windfall, and a true superstar who doesn’t care about individual stats or stature. He just wants to be a champion. That’s Kevin Durant.