There is no doubt that Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players to ever grace an NBA court. And with his incredible resume, isn’t it far-fetched to imagine that KD could have achieved a lot more? Charles Barkley disagrees.
Advertisement
Durant recently passed Dirk Nowitzki for sixth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and is now roughly 700 points away from passing Michael Jordan. When a player reaches a milestone of that magnitude, it invites reflection on their overall career. That is exactly what Dan Le Batard brought Barkley onto his show.
They talked about Durant’s career path up to this point and whether his legacy will be remembered and respected. That was when Le Batard made the point that the current stage in Durant’s career may have been the worst possible for his 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,” he added.
They were harsh 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, the frequent team changes in his career have somewhat stained his reputation. In the past six years, he has played with three franchises: The Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns, and the Houston Rockets now.
Barkley agreed with Le Batard, adding 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,” elaborated Barkley.
It was not surprising to see the Hall of Famer hop on the Durant hate train. Chuck has 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 being a bus driver during Golden State’s back-to-back title run in 2017 and ’18.
Also, Durant never took Barkley’s favorite team, the Suns, past the first round during his time there (2023 to 2025). So it becomes easier to see why Barkley is not a huge fan. He seemingly believes that KD had an easy route to the two championships he won, 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. And Barkley failed to win it 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.
