Kevin Durant will be remembered as one of the greatest players to ever grace an NBA court, and there is little doubt about that. But even with his incredible milestones, is it too far-fetched to imagine that he could have achieved a lot more? Charles Barkley would disagree.
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Durant recently passed Dirk Nowitzki for sixth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and he is now roughly 700 points away from passing Michael Jordan. When a player reaches a milestone of that magnitude, it naturally invites reflection on their overall career. That is exactly what Dan Le Batard brought Barkley onto his show to discuss recently.
They talked about Durant’s career path up to this point and whether his legacy will ultimately be remembered and respected. That was when Le Batard made the point that the version of Durant’s career fans have witnessed may have been the worst possible outcome in terms of legacy.
“This version of Durant, with all of the changing of teams and everything. The way he chose to do it is the worst possible way that he could’ve done it for his legacy,” Le Batard stated on his show. “If you had given him all of the options, the way that he chose to bounce around, this is the worst version of his career that there could’ve been.”
They were brash remarks from the long-time television host. After all, Durant is a two-time champion, a 15-time All-Star, an 11-time All-NBA selection, and a four-time scoring champion. However, his frequent team changes throughout his career have somewhat stained his reputation.
Barkley agreed with Le Batard, stating that Durant has never been successful outside of when he was with the Golden State Warriors. “Well, I 100% agree,” he said. “He hasn’t been close to being successful. I mean, we had him here in Phoenix. He lost in the first round in Jersey… Now he goes to Houston, and my Phoenix Suns got a better record without him. That’s a damning indictment.”
It was not surprising to hear the Hall of Famer hop on the hate train for Durant. He has seemingly been irked by Durant’s behavior ever since he left the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Warriors in 2016. In fact, in 2022, Barkley went on a tirade, claiming that KD was a bus rider rather than a bus driver during Golden State’s back-to-back title run.
Add to that the fact that Durant never took Barkley’s favorite team, the Suns, past the first round during his time there, and it becomes easier to see why Barkley is not a huge fan. He seemingly believes that KD had an easy route to his championships, and outside of those years with the Warriors, Durant has struggled to build on his legacy.
At the end of the day, though, a ring is a ring. It does not matter whether Durant was a bus rider or a bus driver; he still has two championships on his resume, something Barkley failed to win during his career. This may be the “worst version” of KD’s career that fans got, but it was still a pretty fun one, and his legacy will be remembered.
