Is It Kevin Durant's Fault?

                                                        Is It Kevin Durant's Fault?

     Let's start with I am biased here. I wanted the Golden State Warriors to win the 2015-16 NBA Championship. I wanted validation for 73 wins. I like Steph Curry. I like Klay Thompson. I like Draymond Green. I like Anthony Iguodala. I even like Andrew Bogut and Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa. I rooted for Mo Speights and Harrison Barnes. I pulled for Steve Kerr and his travails to returning as Head Coach. So Cleveland and its fans have that long-sought banner. More power to LeBron James. Kyrie Irving was the difference maker. Let J.R. Smith keep his shirt on.

     But it is a new season already, notwithstanding that the Rio Olympics are on the horizon. Free agency has struck in its immaculate earnesty. Trades have abounded. The New York Knicks, my erstwhile favorite team with just 2 championships to show for all its tenure in the NBA, went out and made themselves better. Even the Brooklyn Nets, the ancestor of the New Jersey Nets, went into the market and swooped out with Jeremy Lin whose Knicks success (Linsanity!) still makes him a cult hero in these environs.

     No, the name of the game is to get better. To build upon success. To put yourself in a posture to contend and even win a championship (or two). This might even happen someday to the Philadelphia 76'ers, the masters of woefulness in recent memory with such dismal records despite having solid draft positions.

     The salary cap numbers are out of sight. $94 million. That's absurd. Very good players like the aforementioned Harrison Barnes receive ungodly sums of money for multiple years to sign with a new team--in this case it is the Houston Rockets who have unlocked their vault. Certain Hall of Fame players like Dewayne Wade are playing the free agent market to secure 2 or 3 more years beyond their prime either from unrealistic suitors like the Denver Nuggets or to leverage and pressure the Miami Heat, his only team, to capitulate and give him loads of cash for loyalty. Tell me, did that work out for A-Rod and the New York Yankees?

     All of a sudden, loyalty to a fan base matters more than ever. This is largely due to LBJ's return to Cleveland to bring home the bacon. Let me repeat myself--his RETURN home to Cleveland. Remember how vilified he was when he went South to join Wade and Chris Bosh in South Florida? No matter how successful he was there?

     So here comes Kevin Durant, one of the 5 best players in the current NBA. A lock as a Hall of Famer. He is a free agent. The betting was that he'd sign again with Oklahoma City for 1 year @ a measly $20 million to enhance his chances next summer for a more lucrative free agency payday.

     In a ludicrous recruitment tour akin to the stupor that free agency is itself, he visits the Los Angeles Clippers. Then he meets with the Golden State Warriors in the Hamptons on Long Island, far removed from his hometown of Washington, D.C. or the rather hot and dry Sooner State, who send their management, coaches, and Durant's good friend, Steph Curry, the reigning M.V.P. And he is swept of his feet by their pitch and their offer.    

     Kevin Durant decides to become a Golden State Warrior. The money is good. But the chance to play with the team-friendliest ball-moving team in the NBA which came within about 1 minute of winning the NBA Championship is an allure which no other team can offer. He does not have to worry over 4th quarter meltdowns by point guard Russell Westbrook, a known ball hog and glory seeker who is great but definitely is not K.D.

     What does Durant not have? An NBA Championship ring. What does this group of Warriors have--a ring and the opportunity, if healthy, to legitimately contend for years to come. GSW has become a sort of NBA Dream Team with 4 players the likes of Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green. Iguodala can go back to being a 6th man coming off the bench. They become the presumptive favorites for the upcoming season. Why wouldn't Durant want to thrive in this kind of environment? He does not have to be the one to carry the team night in and night out. As near as the Thunder had come to the NBA Finals this year and with their 1 prior appearance in the Finals, what would their chances have been this year had he stayed put?

     Fans and writers are up in arms about Durant abandoning OKC. How much does loyalty count these days in any arena--sports or business? Didn't Oklahoma City swoop in and take away the Seattle Super Sonics from the devoted fans of the Pacific Northwest? This is business and Durant was taking care of himself. You didn't see him remotely considering going home to play for the Washington Wizards...

     Free agency happens every year. Fans are jolted. The playing fields of all sports are leveled in different ways and shapes. There isn't this hue and cry anyway when Apple loses an innovative computer scientist to Google, is there? Or when a lawyer gets a better chance for partnership through a headhunter?

     Get over it, Thunder fans. Get ready for some less than stellar teams. Boo K.D. as you wish whenever he plays in Chesapeake Energy Arena. Recognize this, OKC and the rest of the NBA, it isn't Kevin Durant's fault. It is the monster that has been created with the ability to go from team to team while paying astronomical sums of money to--basketball players.  Maybe we can blame this all on LeBron anyway...