Obviously everyone hated him for going to GSW, but it did net him 2 rings and 2 FMVPs. At that point, his legacy was sure to be “he’ll be remembered as the guy who left his team to the one that beat them and thats it” etc… Well that was now 6 years ago, and while people are never not going to say it wasn’t a bitch move, those same people likely have far better opinions of him today as “just a guy that wants to hoop, he’s a hooper, mannnn”. I’d say he’s completely changed his public perception and now, being far more reflective about his career, people (including myself) just seem happy to have been able to watch the guy play and hope we can continue to do so.
In the NBA, there’s no guarantees and it’s impossible to say he would’ve won a ring if he stayed in OKC. It’s impossible to say what would’ve happened at all.
What we do know, is with another olympic medal (4 golds) and 2 NBA championships with the FMVPs to go with it, he’ll go down as one of the greatest players in history. At the end of the day, he has 2 rings on his resume and hasn’t won anything else since leaving GSW.
I’d argue, if you do a retrospective look at his career, going to GSW was the best thing he decided to do. Not because of what he could have done with OKC (which is all speculation) but because of how he dealt with the criticism after the fact, and still won those rings.
I’m mainly curious to hear about what the public opinion of KD is today and where his legacy is headed.
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People are gonna use it as an asterisks for the next 50 years when talking about him
if he wins a chip with the Suns. that’s the only way he redeems himself.
He will always be known as a ring chaser unless he wins something as a main guy.
KD legacy always been fine from anyone who knows Hoops. If he wasn’t so good at Hoops, nobody would care that he went to the Warriors. Ray Allen left the Celtics for the Heat after the Heat beat them in 7. Then he got another ring in Miami. He doesn’t get hated on for it because he was just a role player by then.
His NBA Soap Opera Legacy doesn’t matter as much.
It actually makes him look worse that Steph won again without him in 2022 so no
GSW has always been a net positive for his “legacy”, but he doesn’t get full credit or whatever for those FMVPs. Like, what would his legacy be if he didn’t join GSW and never won a championship? It’d be worse! He’d be in the category of “Great player but could never play winning basketball” or whatever. But, instead, everyone says he’s one of the greats but “he couldn’t do it without all time help from a team that won it without him”.
The last US players who might have been more talented / had more potential as Basketball players than KD might be LeBron and probably Shaq.
Talent-wise, Kevin Durant is Top-10 All-Time. In terms of actual achievements, he is Top-15 All-Time. Injuries and some bad luck hold him back a bit in his career.
Nah. Only way he repairs it, IMO, is to win another ring as the head guy. A ring with Phoenix would mean more than the two he won with the Warriors easily.
Just tough to wash away the perception of losing to a 73-9 team and then joining them. Steph was an unanimous MVP, Klay was a top 3 SG, and Draymond a DPOY. All three All-NBA talent.
No one questions KD’s greatness as a basketball player but I think people are easing up on him because he’s on the verge of retiring in the next few years so it’s bittersweet.
Another thing is him leaving the Warriors was probably the worst mistake he made because Warriors won another ring without him. If he had stayed, he probably would have 5 rings and 3-5 FMVP by now and no one can really say anything about it.
Legacy conversations for active players needs to die.
Why are NBA fans so obsessed with legacies, I swear nba media has y’all brainwashed with this kinda talk, no other sport’s discourse focuses on legacies this much
He destroyed 2 years of basketball. Never been so bored during those 2 titles.
His legacy to me is “Awesome talent who 2 titles by ruining 2 years of basketball” so the answer is NO
No and he won’t ever repair it until he can prove he can lead his own team to title which is looking less and less unlikely as his career goes on. Yes ik he won 2 finals mvps but everyone knows that was Curry’s team.
Does Golden State have 50 million in decent salary to send out? I don’t think most fans would hate Durant if he ended up with Golden State again, although I wouldn’t mind if Durant signed for the 26-27 season to finish his career with Ant in Minnesota.
His legacy was positive, most people didn’t hate him as you say.
His legacy is being one of the greatest hoopers of all time. What is there to repair?