Kevin Durant added a new layer to the old ring-chasing debate by directly underscoring the prestige of individual accolades versus team titles. The 2x champ and 2014 MVP said on Fred VanVleet’s Unguarded podcast that a regular-season MVP trophy holds more weight than winning an NBA championship. NBA Hall of Famer cousins, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady agreed with the Houston Rockets superstar’s sentiments for their own reasons
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Opening the conversation, Carter asked McGrady for his side on Durant’s hot take. T-Mac didn’t hesitate to side with KD, emphatically saying, “Hell yeah… Why wouldn’t it?”
When Carter asked for clarification, McGrady highlighted how fan narratives often overlook bench players who win championships, contrasting their contributions with the singular prestige of an MVP award.
“Because everybody at the end of the day, you think about this: when we talk about the totality of a player’s career, and even when you talk about Hall of Fame, and when you talk about the best players, the first thing they say, ‘Oh, oh, but he didn’t get a ring,’ or ‘He got a ring.’ Name the 10th or the 11th player on the Chicago Bulls, or the Los Angeles Lakers, or the Detroit Pistons, or the Boston Celtics. Who are they?… Name me the 11th or the 12th guy.”
After Carter admitted, “You want me to just name one? I mean, I can’t right now,” T-Mac proved his hypothesis.
“You’re right. You can’t even think of him. He got a ring, and you can’t even think of him. He has a ring, but does he have an MVP? Can he get a MVP? Absolutely not. So, yes, the MVP of the regular season has more weight than a NBA championship. Because it’s, of course, the whole team… This is not just team, but it’s ownership, it’s management, it’s health, it’s all this shit that plays into winning the championship.
“So, yeah. I mean, MVP, bro, that’s you putting in some work against, amongst, all of the other great players of that season, that’s playing the same schedule, well, the same 82 games. You’re playing the same teams three and four times, sometimes two. So, come on, man. No, bro. I’m going with the MVP. We all want to win a championship, but that’s a collective thing. That MVP, that’s that’s individual getting it done.”
Hearing McGrady’s rationale, Carter validated the perspective, simply replying: “I’m not mad at that.”
Durant originally stirred up the discourse on VanVleet’s podcast by arguing that only one player in the entire league wins MVP each year, whereas a championship ring involves variables beyond a single player.
Having won an MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014 and back-to-back Finals MVPs with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018, Durant remains uniquely positioned to weigh both accomplishments.
“The ring is incredible… But come on, everybody wants to be MVP,” Durant noted, pointing out that only 36 players in NBA history have claimed the award since its inception in the 1955–56 season.
Even as KD continues his illustrious career, making an All-Star appearance while averaging 26.0 points per game for the Rockets in 2025–26, his 2014 MVP campaign remains one of his defining career milestones.
With Carter and McGrady echoing his sentiment, the debate over ring culture versus individual dominance continues to reshape how NBA legends view their own personal legacies.