Is the hate logical?

TLDR: KD joined the dark side.

It is largely agreed that Kevin Durant is a consensus top 2 player in the world, and you could probably find people who would make the argument he is the best player in the world without having to look too hard.

To begin explaining why KD is disliked so much let’s go back a bit to the 2016 Western Conference Finals, the round right before the finals. In the Western Conference Finals the Oklahoma City Thunder (the team KD was on) were up against the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

The Golden State Warriors at that point in history had won the most NBA games ever, they boasted a record of 73 wins and only 9 losses. A feat that not even Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, in his prime, could lead his team to. Not only did this team win 73 games during the regular season, the Warriors were led by Stephen Curry, who had just won his second MVP award. Not only did Curry win this award, he won it unanimously. That is the first time ever in NBA history such a feat was accomplished. If that wasn’t impressive enough Curry also finished shattering the record for 3 pointers made in a single season with 402 three pointers, pretty much cementing him as the greatest shooter of all time.

Let’s focus on another player on the Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry’s partner in crime. Thompson is also a fantastic three point shooter. In fact, he is arguably the second greatest three point shooter of all time right behind Stephen Curry. With Curry and Klay Thompson both on the same team, the Golden State Warriors have the greatest shooting back court in NBA history. Their third best player is Draymond Green. Now, Draymond isn’t actually that good of a scorer or shooter, but where he shines is on the defensive side of the floor. Green was the defensive player of the year in the 2016-2017 season and for the last decade he has brought an intensity and leadership quality that makes him arguably one of the Warriors most important players.

Another thing about the Warriors is that they play very unselfishly. With all time great talents like Stephen Curry on the floor you would think he would hog the ball, but that is far from the truth. The Warriors love to pass the ball around until they find an open man. This is a very fast paced and efficient way to play basketball.

With this in mind you would think KD would stand no chance against the Golden State Warriors. Well, that was far from the truth. In fact, KD was up 3-1 against this team in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. KD was up 3-1 against a team that had just won the most games in NBA history, and was led by two of the greatest shooters of all time, playing in one of the most efficient systems ever. He was one single victory away from eliminating them in the playoffs. The Oklahoma City Thunder literally needed only one more victory to put away arguably the greatest team of all time.

Then the Oklahoma City Thunder proceeded to blow a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in spectacular fashion.

The Warriors proceed to make it to the NBA finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers who are led by Lebron James. In the NBA finals the Warriors go up 3-1 against the Cavaliers and then proceed to blow a 3-1 lead against them. Cleveland Cavaliers are world champions, Lebron James proves everyone wrong, Warriors go home sad blah blah blah.

Then in the offseason Kevin Durant decides to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency and join the Golden State Warriors. He joined the team he was up 3-1 against in the Western Conference Finals. A team who many saw as his greatest rivals in the NBA. A team who had just come off of winning 73 games in the regular season, and was 1 win away from being crowned world champions for the second consecutive year. Durant joined them. This move in the eyes of many NBA fans, players, and analysts, completely ruined parity in the NBA. People didn’t feel that there was much point in watching regular season or playoff games since tjey already knew the Golden State Warriors were bound to win in the NBA finals in the coming years. Kevin Durant has also been exposed on Twitter through multiple burner accounts bashing his old teammates and coach. Durant said the only other good teammate on that Oklahoma City Thunder team was Russell Westbrook. Westbrook was definitely their second best player however that team was far from terrible. Now people see him as thin skinned, and the definition of “if you cant beat them, join them”.

That’s pretty much why people dont like KD.

There’s also the Brooklyn Nets but that’s a whole other story.