Amid the Bradley Beal trade to the Phoenix Suns NBA fans hopped on Twitter to do their favorite thing, go after Kevin Durant for “recruiting” Beal to join him in Phoenix. Durant is the most online superstar in the NBA, and fans know this. He knows it too, which is why it’s hilarious that those fans will never get KD to do the thing they want him to do.
Ever since Durant joined the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2016 as a free agent, fans have felt some type of way. It doesn’t matter that he led the team to two straight titles as the best player, and would’ve been a third had he not suffered an Achilles tendon tear in 2019. Nor does it matter that the Suns are his second team since leaving the Warriors, fans want him to admit that his titles don’t count the same as others and that he’s somehow a lesser superstar.
Good luck with that.
Durant could choose to engage with the people that praise and show him love on social media but he purposely gets into a back and forth with haters, because they want him to go there and he just won’t.
NBA Stars Recruit Other Stars
That Durant, along with Devin Booker, spoke to Beal about being on the Suns is par for the course in the NBA. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala got on a private jet and flew to the Hamptons to court Durant.
Every player in the NBA when there is an opportunity to play with another elite player does what they can to get that player in the door. You need a bunch of really good players to win championships.
Would it be ideal if every team was able to draft and develop their own players into stars and title contenders? Sure. But most teams in the league are poorly run, and that just isn’t possible.
Kevin Durant Stays Online
The idea that Durant “runs from the grind” and “real NBA fans” don’t respect him is laughable. It’s all fodder for Charles Barkley and “Inside the NBA” and the myriad of talking head shows that want to discuss players’ legacies every time they sneeze.
Before the 2016-17 season Durant was a league MVP, a seven-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA, four-time scoring champ, made his first 50-40-90 club (did it again in 2023), rookie of the year, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
In nine seasons he led the Thunder to the playoffs six times, including three conference finals and an NBA Finals. That’s a Hall of Fame career and all-time before winning championships with Golden State.
But Durant knows that for some none of that matters. That he chooses to engage with that particular segment of NBA fans says something about him. It certainly says something about those fans.
Whether the Suns win the NBA title or not next season, it won’t matter much to how certain fans view Durant, and that’s just the nature of the beast. But if they win 50 games and lose in the second round it will be seen as an indictment on him as a player. That too is the nature of the beast.
