Kevin Durant just continues to show that no amount of money, titles or Finals MVPs will fix his insecurities.
In fact, short of being crowned the best player in the universe, nothing will make Durant happy.
And it’s that goal – wanting to be recognised as the NBA’s best player – that could see Durant leave the Golden State Warriors this summer.
The new strategy comes after Durant “believed” that beating LeBron James and the Cleveland in the 2017 Finals would make him surpass James as the best player in the NBA, per The Athletic‘s Ethan Strauss.
To state the obvious, that didn’t happen.
James was colossal in defeat, becoming the first player to average a triple-double in an NBA Finals.
Sure, Durant won Finals MVP, but LeBron won our hearts and minds with his monster effort.
Not to mention that LeBron was leading a Cavaliers team as outmatched and outgunned as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Even after Durant won his second championship and Finals MVP last season against James’ Cavs, there has been no great power shift.
“There was no grand reordering of rankings, and only so much credit to be had for a dominant playoff run,” wrote Strauss.
No, the public was reluctant to give credit to Durant for joining one of the greatest assembled rosters of all time.
Now like a James Bond villain whose first plan didn’t work, Durant is about to initiate his backup plan.
League sources suggest that Durant will leave the Golden State Warriors and try to bring a championship to a struggling franchise in order to get the validation he so desperately craves.
Either the Knicks or the Nets are rumoured to be the teams Durant has his eye on, but very few people would say that winning a title with either would leapfrog him over LeBron.
Durant’s obsession with being accepted is bordering on delusion. He’s one of the top 20 basketball players ever, can’t he just accept that and move on?
Perhaps what he should be looking for isn’t titles or MVPs or validation from fans who have never laced on a basketball shoe – it’s his own happiness.
Or, alternatively, he can make a few new fake Twitter accounts and get to work spreading the message that KD really is the GOAT!
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