Kevin Durant Altered Stephen Curry’s NBA Legacy, Claims 12x All-Star Amid Warriors Guard’s MVP Take

2018 was a different kind of wager for the NBA fan. First it was if the Splash Brothers would be in the finals again. When they were, it was about if the Dubs would win. When they did, it was about who would be Finals MVP. Because Stephen Curry didn’t exactly live up to that exorbitantly high bar he set himself. That trophy went to the guy no one expected to fit in and make the Warriors dynasty thrive. Isiah Thomas, who holds Curry in high regard as a fellow point guard, didn’t believe this would’ve happened if Curry, Klay, and Dray didn’t get that missing piece.

Isiah Thomas was on The Draymond Green Show and very tactfully laid out that opinion in front of Draymond Green. “Before Kevin Durant arrived in Golden State, y’all were on the verge of  and being remembered as the team that went 73-9 and lost to a Cleveland Cavalier team in the finals, 3-1. You were up 3-1 and probably one of the biggest collapse in NBA finals history from a 73-9 historical team.”

After calling the Warriors an almost-collapse to Dray’s face, the Pistons legend credited Kevin Durant for saving the dynasty. “Kevin Durant comes that summer and really saves y’all’s basketball legacy, and you win two championships after that and now you’re the Golden State Warriors dynasty that you’re going to go into the Hall of Fame on and everything else.”

Kevin Durant arrived from OKC to the Bay Area in 2016 with much chatter that Thomas dismissed. He maintains that KD only wants to play a certain style of basketball which he got in Golden State and eventually led the Warriors to two championships in 2017 and 2018. He pretty bluntly said that Green, Curry, and Klay Thompson wouldn’t be future hall-of-famers if it weren’t Durant.

A lot is said about Slim’s move to Golden State, a team with multiple finals appearances. He’d go on to win the 2017 and 2018 Finals MVP titles, a huge upset to the MVP Curry supporters. There are those KD deniers who refuse to acknowledge he was instrumental to a Warriors dynasty.

Thomas refuses to diminish KD that way. And for what it’s worth, Durant’s former teammates agree.

Stephen Curry confirmed his feelings about 2018 Finals MVP

Isiah Thomas didn’t have to be that cautious around Draymond Green. He too agrees they wouldn’t have the legacy if it wasn’t for Kevin Durant. He explicitly said with Zeke as his witness, “I am not one of those people who’s on the bandwagon of like, ‘Kevin didn’t do nothing. Kevin doesn’t deserve them rings.’ Like, you don’t win two finals MVPs if you don’t deserve rings. That’s just kind of a dumb thing to say, you know.”

Their former teammate, Quinn Cook claimed that Durant was rooting for Finals MVP for Stephen Curry all season. In 2018, Slim and Chef were statistically near equals. But Curry’s abysmal Game 3 performance sent a Finals MVP chance out the window. Yet the unanimous league MVP not winning finals MVP didn’t sit right with a large section of the NBA community.

During his China tour, Stephen Curry was asked about Cook’s comments and if he felt he should’ve been Finals MVP in 2018. Initially, he acknowledged why this is a debate.

“The idea of that being a conversation, I couldn’t run from it… because we had been to four straight Finals at that point, had won three out of four. 2018, I guess I was close. Had a bad Game 3. KD played unbelievable the entire time. It goes into that conversation, in the sense of, in that moment, if you’re playing for a Finals MVP, you’re probably not gonna get it done because you’ll get distracted.” 

Yet he went on to say, “I never really thought about it that much. 2018, I got close to thinking about it. But I’d rather have rings, obviously, and the opportunity to go get rings, but KD beyond well-deserved Finals MVP.”

Draymond Green pretty much echoed him. Despite the popular sentiment, Durant’s teammates and Isiah Thomas would never discount what he did for the Warriors dynasty.