The newest member to the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant, is leaving his mark on this team. His transfer from Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors has progressed him to success so far in the season. Critics labeled him as a “ring chaser” and a “bandwagon” when he signed with Golden State. This will be Durant’s 10th year in the NBA.
I’m going to start out by saying I am a huge Durant fan. He has been my favorite player since he was drafted to the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007. The SuperSonics then became the Oklahoma City Thunder. Therefore, you can say Durant has been loyal to his team for years upon years. He has zero championships, and you can’t blame someone for doing what his best is to get one. Golden State was one of the first teams interested in picking him up and scheduling a meeting with him. They showed no remorse in recruiting him to their team aggressively. Apparently, it worked out.
Throughout Durant’s career with OKC, he averaged; 27.4 points per game, 3.7 assists per game, and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 88% from the free throw line. In this year’s debut in Golden State, he is currently averaging; 26.2 points per game, 4.7 assists per game, and 8.6 rebounds per game while shooting 86% from the free throw line. To me, it seems like he is more of a team player at Golden State than he was at OKC. From watching him through the years, he was very selfish, give or take. He did lead his team to the NBA Finals once and playoffs several times, but he could not finish the job in the end. It was time for a change.
The Warriors are currently sitting at 36-6. The Thunder are 25-19. Last year, OKC went 55-27. You can already tell how much Durant leaving impacted this team dramatically. Just the other night, Durant and the Warriors demolished the Thunder 121-100 with Durant putting up 40 on the scoreboard. Halfway through the season and the Thunder almost have the same amount of losses as last year.
In a couple of months, we will see if Durant leaving for the Golden State Warriors will pay off. They have already seen the Cleveland Cavaliers twice this year and the record is at 1-1. The first time they played started on Christmas Day. It ended crazily with Kyrie Irving hitting a dagger fadeaway to close the Warriors out 109-108. The second game just happened recently which went sideways. The Golden State Warriors came out firing. The Cavs dug themselves a hole and it was hard to get out of. Golden State ended up winning the second game 126-91.
Although, the Finals is far from now, the importance of the games are still high. As LeBron James stated in an interview, “This is not a rivalry.” The two games between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors were lopsided games, meaning if they meet in the Finals again, it will be a hit or miss. I would not suggest betting on that because both teams are willing to take the title. LeBron and the Cavs will be prepared to defend their title and Durant and the Warriors will be there trying to steal away with it.