It’s been six years since Kevin Durant won his second NBA championship ring. Does the lack of another title affect his greatness?
It’s been six years since Kevin Durant won his second NBA championship ring with the Golden State Warriors.
Since then he has searched for it with Brooklyn Nets and now with the Phoenix Sunswithout success.
Durant, 36, is once again looking for another championship ring. What are your chances? ESPN experts analyze it.
1- If Kevin Durant doesn’t win another NBA title, does it affect his greatness?
Just in August of this year, Kevin Durant became the basketball player with the most Olympic gold medals in the men’s branch, by winning his fourth consecutive in Paris and he also did so with a stellar performance, along with his former teammate in Golden State, Stephen Curry already LeBron James. However, back in the NBA it has been six years since the last time KD lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy, the second in a row with the Golden State Warriors, both as Finals MVP, then he has looked for it elsewhere , without success, although in 2024-25 he has a new opportunity.
Durant got tired of waiting for a title in the franchise where he debuted, Oklahoma City Thunder and left after nine seasons, to join the successful project in California with Steve Kerr as a coach and Curry as a figure and finally add a couple of rings; After being injured in the Finals lost against Toronto in 2019, he went to the Brooklyn Nets, in a period to be forgotten, until he asked for a change to the Suns.
In Phoenix Suns he met Devin Booker, with whom he can share the load of points and then Bradley Beal joined them to complete the trident, but he has not managed to transcend in the playoffs and to correct it, the board now opted for Mike Budenholzer, monarch in 2021, as a coach; Durant’s hope is that he can add another championship to his successful individual story, without the shadow of having joined the Warriors on track. (Juan Pablo Sánchez)
Kevin Durant, star of the Phoenix Suns. Getty Images
2- A key number or statistic for Kevin Durant heading into the season.
1,051. The points that Kevin Durant lacks to become the eighth best scorer in the NBA, – and in the ninth if Julius Erving’s ABA points are included – which exceeds the figure of 30,000 points.
Considering his career averages, and even considering a decline in production at age 36, Durant should have no problem surpassing that mark sometime between his 38th and 45th games. We’ll have to keep an eye on those mid-January days, if you stay healthy, as an early date of achievement.
There is nothing that defines Kevin Durant better than his points column, as he is undoubtedly one of the most natural and resourceful scorers in the league. His five scoring titles and his lifetime average of 27.3 in the regular season (sixth all-time) and 29.3 in the playoffs (fourth all-time) say so. On the way are Erving (30,026 with those of the ABA), Wilt Chamberlain (seventh in the NBA with 31,419), Dirk Nowitzki (sixth with 31,560). But climbing to the top 5 is just a matter of time. (Hiram Martinez)
3- What is Kevin Durant’s main challenge in the 2024-2025 season in the NBA?
Kevin Durant is perhaps one of the players on whom attention falls season after season, since his label as a star of the league means that the player is always in conversations that have to do with either the title or the race for the title. MVP; However, since leaving the Golden State Warriors, the forward has not been in the NBA Finals again.
KD has been criticized for his team moves to contending franchises that allow or help him win another Larry O’Brien, such as when he moved to the Brooklyn Nets and more recently to the Phoenix Suns. His history with the Nets is known to everyone; There were few games that the ‘Big three’ of the moment (at that time) made up of KD, James Harden y Kyrie Irving He was together on the court and nothing happened with the team.
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After arriving at the Suns, the issue of KD and his desire to change teams to be a champion, he returned to join there with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal (at the time with Chris Paul), but once again his team was left behind. shore and KD’s dream of having another ring continues to be his great pending.
For this season his priority is to take the Suns to the Top 3 of the Western Conference and obviously make a long run in the playoffs to reach the Finals. KD must be that leader who, night after night, scores more points or stands out in some area for his team and brings out the maximum potential of his teammates.
And although it may sound like a joke, another challenge for KD is to stay on the same team for more than three seasons and not look for another change to show that he can win a championship without being part of super teams. (Roland of the Forest)