Knicks legend Clyde Frazier thinks that for Kevin Durant to cement his NBA legacy, he needs to win a title with the New York Knicks.
I agree with Clyde as a Knicks fan, not because I care about Durant’s legacy, but because I want my Knicks to be NBA champs.
Like the entire internet, Frazier believes that Durant’s championships with the Golden State Warriors don’t really count.
“Durant, as great a player as he is, I would still hold back because man, he joined a team that really didn’t need him,” Frazier told SiriusXM NBA Radio back in August last year.
“He’s right there with LeBron – probably would’ve surpassed LeBron as the best player in the game soon – but for him doing that I still don’t give him the full credit he probably would have deserved if he stayed with OKC and won a title with that team.”
So when it comes to Frazier’s top players of all-time, Durant has “an asterisk by his name.”
Now Frazier has come up with a solution to erase that asterisk, and surprise, surprise, it includes Durant playing for his beloved Knicks.
He believes that the entire narrative surrounding Durant would change if the two-time Finals MVP won a title in New York.
“I think that’s what he needs. Especially if the Warriors win this year, I think he’d be looking for a different challenge,” Frazier told the New York Daily News. “I don’t know a better place than New York where he can do it.”
“Where else could he go to get what he’s looking for, to be the best in the game? If he could bring a title to New York, that’s going to catapult him with Jordan and LeBron, I would think.”
Knicks fandom aside, I think Frazier has a point. Look at how New York initially embraced Carmelo Anthony – the city would love to have another scoring superstar.
The bad juju that Durant has created for himself by almost everything he’s done for Golden State would evaporate if he moved to New York and won a title.
Frazier, who is the Knicks TV analyst and one of the most entertaining commentators in the NBA, will get a chance to see Durant on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.
Hopefully what we see on Tuesday from Durant will be a teaser of what’s to come at Maddison Square Garden next season.
For more Basketball Forever content, follow @bballforeverfb.