“Steph Curry ain’t dumb, he let Kevin Durant go off!”: Shaquille O’Neal praises Warriors MVP’s passiveness to ‘Slim Reaper’ during title runs against LeBron James

Shaquille O’Neal exclaims that Steph Curry isn’t dumb and that he willingly let Kevin Durant take the reins of the Warriors’ offense. 

Kevin Durant shook the entirety of the NBA landscape when he decided to join the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2016. By tipping the odds forever in the Dubs’ favor in terms of championship contention, the former OKC Thunder superstar was crucified by both NBA fans and analysts alike, calling it the ‘weakest move in sports history’. 

The Warriors never listened to the chatter however as they welcomed the 2014 MVP with open arms. Despite duking it out against his Thunder that same year in the Western Conference Finals, they managed to build quite the camaraderie in their first two years together. 

Steph Curry in particular seemed to be in high spirits when on the court alongside Kevin Durant. This was quite peculiar to fans as they believed the 2x MVP and champion would resent him for taking his touches away. 

Instead, they came to realize Steph had embraced playing even more off-the-ball than ever before. He let the ‘Slim Reaper’ go to work and well, it led to two straight championships.

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Shaquille O’Neal on Steph Curry playing with Kevin Durant. 

Steph Curry made it clear that he most certainly was not a selfish basketball player with the single decision to play second fiddle to Kevin Durant. He valued winning above all else and turning down a top 20 player in his prime would’ve been foolish. 

Shaquille O’Neal recently took to his podcast to commend Curry for doing this all with the subtext being KD’s potential reunion with GSW due to him asking for a trade out of Brooklyn. 

“They focused more on Steph in those Finals. Steph being the true definition of a ‘great player’ gave the ball up. Steph ain’t dumb. They won a championship last year [2015] and he wants to play with them, let’s go, go monster, go to work.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOWl_qn8lu8

While Kevin Durant is able to get a shot off against practically anybody in the league, having Curry beside him helped immensely due to the gravity that he creates with his ability to shoot from 30 feet.

Also read: “C’mon Steph, you’re shooting bricks!”: Dell Curry took it to 2-year-old Steph Curry for missing shots on a baby hoop