Richard Jefferson Rips Apart Narrative That Kevin Durant Saved Steph Curry-Led Warriors’ Legacy

The NBA at this particular moment is ripe for discussion. There’s another all-out war of an MVP race shaping up between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and possibly Luka Doncic. There’s the whole Giannis Antetokounmpo possible trade request. There are phenomenal rookies around the league like Cooper Flagg and VJ Edgecombe, and surprising teams, like the East-leading Pistons and the fine-without-Wemby Spurs.

The Thunder are off to a historic start in their pursuit of a repeat title, matching the 24-1 record of the 2015-16 Warriors, leading fans to wonder if they could match or beat that team’s record 73-9 record. They’re also two games away from their first NBA Cup title as they try to avenge last season’s runner-up finish.

Road Trippin’ puts out new episodes twice a week, and Kendrick Perkins, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye and Allie Clifton have touched on all of the aforementioned topics lately. On yesterday’s episode, though, they also took a trip in the wayback machine to revisit a take from 21 months ago.

Somehow the subject of Pistons legend Isiah Thomas’ appearance on The Draymond Green Show from March 2024 came up, more specifically his take that Kevin Durant saved the Warriors’ legacy by joining them after they blew a 3-1 Finals lead to the Cavs in 2016.

Kendrick Perkins agreed with Thomas, saying, “Not a single lie told,” but Richard Jefferson pushed back.

“To say [Durant] saved their legacy, we’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” he said, “the most important championship of Steph’s career was the championship they won after [Durant] left, hence the ‘What are they gonna say now?'”

Jefferson made sure not to diminish KD’s accomplishments, or his impact on the Warriors, but he argued that even if he had never come to Golden State, that team’s legacy would be secure.

“They won a championship before him, they won a championship after him. As far as I’m concerned, the conversation is over [about] could they win without Kevin Durant,” the former NBA champion reminded the panel.

A significant portion of basketball fans railed against KD joining that Warriors team since they were already so good. They’ve since used that logic to suggest that the two championships they won together are somehow tainted, both for Durant and the rest of the Warriors.

That argument conveniently leaves out the very real possibility that Golden State might have been able to win one or multiple titles during those years even if KD had never shown up.

That was the absolute prime of the Steph Curry/Klay Thompson/Draymond Green era, and just because they blew a 3-1 lead to the Cavs didn’t mean that they couldn’t bounce back in the following years.

They proved by winning the 2022 title that they had the heart of a champion, and nobody could argue that any of those players were as good individually as they were five years earlier.

Jefferson said that Durant made the Warriors a bigger dynasty, but that they absolutely could have won more without him. Even if they wouldn’t have, their place in history as one of the best teams of the 21st century was secure.

It’s a little strange that Road Trippin’ decided to use an old Isiah Thomas take for content when so many things are happening in the NBA, but it’s never a bad day to remember how good those Warriors teams were.