Kevin Durant seems to be the NBA’s resident villain and that’s more because of the general public’s inclination to pin blame on the basketball star than the presence of any real evidence of culpability. Two years ago, that criticism amplified when he made the choice to become a Golden State Warrior, thereby “ruining” the NBA according to some folks.
The charge stems from the idea that Durant’s addition to the team threw the competitiveness of the league all out of whack and Golden State’s sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers to earn a back-to-back championship title has only further added to the theory.
Naturally, Kevin Durant already had a response lined up about that assumption when he spoke to Yahoo! Sports Friday night after earning the Warriors’ series-ending victory.
“My responsibility is to my skills. My responsibility is to myself,” Durant told the publication. “I’m not worried about the NBA. That’s their job. They make too much money. They ain’t paying me enough to dictate the NBA. I should be making more money if all that’s on me. My responsibility is to whatever team I play for. All that other stuff, that’s on y’all.”
Whether they’ll take the blame or not, the Warriors have shaken up the ecosystem of professional basketball, but it does bring into question what the future of the NBA looks like with a team successfully stacking its roster with superstar players that concurrently share the spotlight as opposed to the common formula of one chief player.
Sound off with your thoughts below. Does Durant have a point?