In the blink of an eye, Kevin Durant has turned the NBA landscape upside down. And by upside down, I mean he has officially ruined the 2016-2017 NBA season for anyone who is not a Warriors or Cavaliers fan. As far as I'm concerned, those are the only two teams left in this watered-down league that have any chance to win the NBA title now.
Let me say this: I have no issue with Kevin Durant leaving the Thunder. Did I want him to? Of course not. I loved watching him and my personal favorite player, Russell Westbrook, play together. They are arguably two of the top five players in the NBA, and I wanted them to win a title together because that organization and those two players deserved it.
How do I feel now?
I'm disgusted with Durant. Leaving Oklahoma City and going to a team like the Celtics or the Spurs would be one thing, but joining a team that has won the Western Conference two years in a row and nearly won a second consecutive NBA championship? That's weak. He's joining the team that he failed to beat this past year in the playoffs. His thought process seems to be that if you can't beat them, might as well join them, right? In my eyes, Durant is now no better than veteran players who join teams like this just to end their career with a championship.
And this decision is vastly different than the one LeBron made to leave Cleveland and head to Miami in 2010. That Cleveland team was made up of role players like Daniel Gibson, Mo Williams, Big Z, and many other players that are hardly notable. Kevin Durant had Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, and others that are much better than what LeBron left behind. On top of that, LeBron's decision was made to join up with other superstars on a team that hadn't won since Wade took the 2006 team on a magical run to the title. The Golden State team that Kevin Durant is joining just won 73 games in the regular season.
It's a cop out. I can't call it anything else. The Golden State Warriors, now -- in my opinion -- have arguably the best player at each position in the entire league. An argument can be made for Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green being the best players at the respective positions in the league. Golden State proved they could win without Durant, and now that they have him, I'm questioning whether it's even worth watching the Cavaliers' title defense.
I know others will disagree with me, but I think this decision has not only destroyed the title contender that is OKC, because if the Thunder are smart they'll shop Westbrook and trade him now so they don't lose him for nothing when he becomes a free agent next summer, but it's also destroyed the NBA. The season has now become a two-team race: the Cavaliers and the Warriors. The entire narrative will be centered around the seemingly inevitable Finals rematch for the third year in a row.
Super teams are ruining the NBA, in my eyes, and the Cavaliers are included in this. I am beyond ecstatic that we finally won a title, but we did it with three players who came together to win as a team. Back in the mid-2000s, it felt as though every superstar in the league had his own team. Paul Pierce and the Celtics (before Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined him), LeBron James and the Cavaliers, Dwight Howard and the Magic, Chris Paul and the Hornets, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, Dwyane Wade and the Heat, and the list goes on. It was a balanced league, and the playoffs were wild and tons of fun to watch.
I used to think superstars loved being referred to as such because it gave them a title to dispute against other superstars. It seemed to me that players like Kobe, LeBron and others loved playing against each other because it was a chance to prove who was more elite. But now, it seems like no one wants that anymore. It's all about winning championships, which I totally understand since it defines a player's legacy. But Durant joining the Warriors to be on a team that has already won it without him is just so boring and so weak it's not even funny. He couldn't beat Steph, Klay, and the Warriors, so I guess he has to join them to finally win his ring.
It seems like a given that the Warriors will cruise through the West just as the Cavaliers cruise the East, because who is left to challenge either team? Oklahoma City is done, San Antonio could possibly challenge, the Clippers can't challenge, and the best two teams out East will probably be the Celtics and the Raptors, whom Cleveland has already proven they can beat.
I love the Cavaliers, and I loved watching us finally bring home a championship, but I'm quickly checking out of this upcoming season. There's no intrigue anymore. Durant made sure of that by joining a team that was already considered one of the greatest in league history, and there's almost no reason to watch the regular season, anymore.
Welcome to the NBA for the foreseeable future. We might as well just skip straight to the Finals and watch the Cavaliers and Warriors duke it out again.