In 2016, the NBA world received shocks of seismic nature when Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors to build a superteam with Stephen Curry. But, despite the tremendous success with the team, he still gets criticized for the decision. So when Jimmy Kimmel asked him about adding LeBron James to the team, Durant curtly dodged the question.
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In the 2016 playoffs, the Warriors defeated Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder after being down 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, before Golden State famously went on to lose the NBA finals against LeBron-led Cleveland Cavaliers. The loss prompted a free agent signing of Kevin Durant to the California team, thereby assembling the most incredible team ever to play the game of basketball. Yet, since then, KD will do whatever he can to avoid saying he wants to be on another superteam. His interview with Jimmy Kimmell is probably the biggest example of this phenomenon.
Kevin Durant avoids Jimmy Kimmel’s question
In 2018, Kevin Durant appeared as a guest on the late-night talk show ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘. Durant had just won his second championship with the Warriors and announced his return for another season. Jimmy Kimmel then took the opportunity to ask his guest about adding LeBron James to the superteam. Here is what KD said:
“I just don’t think that would happen man. I don’t even want to go there, you know. Somebody is listening and is going to write something. I’ll stay on my side.”
Though Kevin subtly avoided the question, the entire conversation got a hilarious response from the crowd. Kevin had faced a lot of backlash from the media, former players, and fans for joining the 73-9 Warriors. The public felt it was unfair to the league and eliminated competition by shifting the power to the Warriors, and the Warriors only. Of course, it’s hard to blame them too much considering just how boring the NBA became at the time. They were simply too good.
How good were the Warriors with Kevin Durant?
The Golden State Warriors had already reached the NBA finals for two consecutive years prior to Kevin Durant’s arrival. Their roster of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala was championship caliber amongst themselves. Therefore, when Kevin Durant announced his wish to join the team, it was curtains for the rest of the league.
Durant was a part of the team for three seasons from 2016-2019. During this tenure, the team reached the NBA finals on all three occasions, winning two titles. The 2019 finals loss came against the Toronto Raptors after Durant and Klay suffered injuries and were unable to finish the series. Taking nothing away from the Toronto team, if the players were healthy, there was only one winner.
The Warriors had an unprecedented win percentage of 74% during the period. They were a cheat code! Possibly, the most lethal combination of offensive talent to ever step on the court. In 2016-17, the team went 16-1 in the playoffs and cruised towards the title. With all this information, if LeBron James were to join the team, how much worse could it get for the league?
