Kevin Durant has been a part of two failed superteams

[Airmiess]

Stop being surprised by KD coming up short. GSW was a fool proof situation, hes not that guy.

Actually watching those GSW teams play showed he was the best payer BY FAR.

To casuals who don't understand the gravity that Curry and Klay were pulling in, there was countless times were KD had lone transition baskets simply because defenders elected to close out corner 3s... on fast breaks.

But believe what you want.

[Marrrcuss]

Stop being surprised by KD coming up short. GSW was a fool proof situation, hes not that guy.

Actually watching those GSW teams play showed he was the best payer BY FAR.

To casuals who don't understand the gravity that Curry and Klay were pulling in, there was countless times were KD had lone transition baskets simply because defenders elected to close out corner 3s... on fast breaks.

But believe what you want.

Yea, Im a casual because i dont think Klay is better than KD....

[KembaWalker]

He’s 36!!

Torn achilles!!

Brad Beal sucks!!

Someone get this man a free pass STAT

[dhsilv2]

He failed with James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Now he failed again with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

Super? This suns team was dead on arrival! It was a joke from the second it was announced.

[NZB2323]

Actually watching those GSW teams play showed he was the best payer BY FAR.

To casuals who don't understand the gravity that Curry and Klay were pulling in, there was countless times were KD had lone transition baskets simply because defenders elected to close out corner 3s... on fast breaks.

But believe what you want.

Yea, Im a casual because i dont think Klay is better than KD....

No, but Curry is better. Curry won a championship before and after Durant. Curry was fine being the distraction at the 3 point line while Durant got easy buckets.

2014, 2016, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have all been underwhelming for Durant.

[Iwasawitness]

He failed with James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Now he failed again with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. These two huge disasters should be seen as a big, ugly stain on his legacy. Durant has only thrived when he is playing with one of the greatest core of all time in the history of this sport. I really can't see Durant as an all-time great anymore. An all-timer should have done way better with opportunities like his.

Also we can't forget that Durant has always been a guy who joined a superteam. Basically he is a follower. He never been the alpha. He joined Golden State when the golden core is already established. He went to Brooklyn because Kyrie told him so. Lastly, he picked Phoenix as his trade destination when things get ugly in Brooklyn. And it's very possible that he is going to try to run away from Phoenix to be in a better team.

I will say it one more time. Kevin Durant is not an all time great. He can't be in the conversation anymore.

Let me be clear that I am all for clowning on KD. He's one of my least favorite players of all time and to this day haven't really gotten over his decision to go to GS.

With that said, I don't think these failed superteams should be reflected on his abilities as a player. While he shares some blame, I think they should serve as an ultimate reminder as to why superteams generally do NOT work, especially when done very poorly.

The Celtics big three and LeBron's tenure with superteams have fooled people into thinking they are guaranteed paths to a title, or at least some form of championship contention. In reality, they are very risky endeavors and can backfire pretty easily. I'm not really sure how we still have NBA executives who still don't get why proper roster construction is important, but it feels like no one has learned their lesson and they are continuing to make the same mistakes others have made, very recently might I add.

How you build your superteam is very important. You have to keep in mind what the roles of your players will be on the team, what adjustments will need to be made, and most importantly, what is being given up to make this happen. Because of the latter, superteams are more often than not bloated top heavy teams with almost no depth and no real way of making adjustments if other teams have matchup advantages.

The Nets and Suns were poorly put together and poorly thought out. Harden to the Nets, a move I supported at the time, turned out to be extremely unnecessary and backfired tremendously. The difference with the Suns is that I didn't support the Beal move at all and knew it would come back to haunt them, and it did. But even that one had unintended consequences. Beal's injury problems made adjusting to the team very difficult, but that's the price you pay when you go this route. Your depth is shot and you are left with very minimal choices. This is why I don't consider teams like the 2011 Miami Heat to be stacked, even if their big three definitely was superior to this one. You HAVE to take into consideration how the rest of the team is formed.

If you want to blame KD for anything, blame him for requesting that Nash be the head coach of the Nets in the first place, or for being an idiot and requesting a trade in the offseason in 2022. But honestly, you can't really put this on his playing abilities. I think this is a important reminder as to why superteams should pretty much be avoided unless you are able to form them through organic needs that don't require you to give up all your first round picks for an entire decade and doesn't destroy your depth.

[Marrrcuss]

To casuals who don't understand the gravity that Curry and Klay were pulling in, there was countless times were KD had lone transition baskets simply because defenders elected to close out corner 3s... on fast breaks.

But believe what you want.

Yea, Im a casual because i dont think Klay is better than KD....

No, but Curry is better. Curry won a championship before and after Durant. Curry was fine being the distraction at the 3 point line while Durant got easy buckets.

2014, 2016, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have all been underwhelming for Durant.

Before: Worst Finals injuries ever by a team with 2 starters getting hurt - Love and Kyrie, still went 6
After: Dallas with no THJ, Denver with no Murray or MPJ, Memphis with Ja going out, Boston with Tatum hurt.

[BarbaGrizz]

KD is more on the Alex English than Kobe´s realm.

[FrodoFraggins]

[NDaATL]

KD/Brooklyn would've won it all in 2021 if Kyrie AND Harden didn't get hurt. They still went 7 with Milwaukee and were a KD toe away from hitting the game winner. Injuries play such a huge factor in winning it all.

Denver would probably have at least another title if players didn't get hurt.

[ShootersShoot]

He had an all star starting 5 lineup: Beal, Booker, Nurkic, Allen are all established franchise players or fringe all stars. They lost to a Minny team that had never even made it past the first round. Durant is a taller CJ McCollum.

Grayson Allen being called a fringe all star is probably the worst take I'm going to see this week.

[NZB2323]

Yea, Im a casual because i dont think Klay is better than KD....

No, but Curry is better. Curry won a championship before and after Durant. Curry was fine being the distraction at the 3 point line while Durant got easy buckets.

2014, 2016, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have all been underwhelming for Durant.

Before: Worst Finals injuries ever by a team with 2 starters getting hurt - Love and Kyrie, still went 6
After: Dallas with no THJ, Denver with no Murray or MPJ, Memphis with Ja going out, Boston with Tatum hurt.

Injuries happen in the playoffs, and the Warriors have had injuries also.

Tatum played every game.

[Yoshun]

To be fair to Durant ( as much as I don't like him), Kyrie and Harden were absolute disasters for the Nets. It's not fair to give Durant all the blame.

[NZB2323]

To be fair to Durant ( as much as I don't like him), Kyrie and Harden were absolute disasters for the Nets. It's not fair to give Durant all the blame.

Sure, and he was great in 2021 but he was terrible in 2022.

[Yoshun]

To be fair to Durant ( as much as I don't like him), Kyrie and Harden were absolute disasters for the Nets. It's not fair to give Durant all the blame.

Sure, and he was great in 2021 but he was terrible in 2022.

I'm not defending him at all. I'm just saying, his tenure here was a disaster for all parties.

[DusterBuster]

He’s 36!!

Torn achilles!!

Brad Beal sucks!!

Someone get this man a free pass STAT

Bro lit fire to his free passes yearrrrrs ago my guy.

[Notanoob]

To be fair to Durant ( as much as I don't like him), Kyrie and Harden were absolute disasters for the Nets. It's not fair to give Durant all the blame.

He played GM and brought those guys in, made excuses then blamed everyone else and asked out after he **** the franchise.

When the players are playing GM they get blamed for putting together **** rosters just because it's their buddies.

Same with the Suns, the team's terribly constructed, but he blessed off on the Beal trade, it's his fault for being **** stupid and thinking it was a good idea.

[danvato]

There’s a reason they failed. You can’t have your 3 best players be only offensive players.

The big 3 worked because Chris Bosh became a guy who played defence. KG was obviously elite on the end. Who of Besl/Booker/Harden/Irving was that guy? In all honesty - it has to be KD and that is just a stupid use of KD.

They’re superteams in name only. They were horrible fitting teams.

Hopefully, KD gets moved this offseason and we can watch him play on a team that has some semblance of team construction.

This is silly, that Nets team was the best team in the league by miles. 2 freak injuries and then Kyrie going nuts with covid is what killed them, not KD.

[hardenASG13]

To be fair to Durant ( as much as I don't like him), Kyrie and Harden were absolute disasters for the Nets. It's not fair to give Durant all the blame.

He played GM and brought those guys in, made excuses then blamed everyone else and asked out after he **** the franchise.

When the players are playing GM they get blamed for putting together **** rosters just because it's their buddies.

Same with the Suns, the team's terribly constructed, but he blessed off on the Beal trade, it's his fault for being **** stupid and thinking it was a good idea.

You're right, CP3 and Landry Shamet in Beals place would've put them over the top haha. I know it didn't work, but why wouldn't he have approved of that trade idea? They weren't exactly well constructed last year either.

[Ito]

I didn’t think GS was a super team just because Durant went there.. also Booker Durant and Beal is not a super team..

Young okc was a super team Westbrook Durant and Harden