Kevin Durant is among the elite class of the NBA, regularly placed in the top two or three players in the world. Where LeBron James has long reigned as the NBA’s best player, Durant has, at the least, created a conversation about whether he’s matched or even surpassed the King.
LeBron has long been Durant’s counterpoint in the Eastern Conference, dating back to Durant’s first NBA Finals experience in 2012 with the Thunder going up against James’ Heat. Oklahoma City didn’t fare well then, and it took him five years and a controversial move to the Warriors for him to exact his revenge on James, who had likewise changed teams heading back to Cleveland.
The Warriors took down the Cavaliers in five games in the 2017 Finals, capping off one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history. Durant, who was widely criticized for leaving the Thunder for the loaded Warriors, earned Finals MVP honors for his incredible play, proving he was, indeed, the star among stars in Golden State. The highlight of Durant’s phenomenal Finals performance was his game-winner in Game 3 to lift the Warriors to a 3-0 lead in the series.
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That game-winner was extra special to Durant because it came over his rival and idol in LeBron James. In a recent profile on Durant by Zach Baron in GQ, Durant explained just how much that moment meant to him, and why it felt like something much more than just a game-winning shot.
In Game 3, with his team trailing the Cleveland Cavaliers with under a minute to go, he hit the shot of his life—a three-pointer, tossed up as casually and optimistically as a wave hello, over LeBron James, his role model and rival. “That was the best moment I ever had,” Durant told me. “I made the game-winning shot in the finals against my fucking idol. Somebody that I really, really, really followed since I was a ninth-grade high schooler. I felt like he was passing the torch to me.”
James would probably tell Durant to pump the brakes on the whole “passing the torch” business, considering he’s still carrying the load for the Cavaliers and searching for an eighth straight Finals appearance. That said, it’s a telling quote from Durant about how much that shot, that Finals and finally toppling his personal final boss, LeBron, was to him.
It wasn’t just earning a ring, it was doing it against LeBron and proving that he could go toe-to-toe with him. It was earning that ring by playing great and hitting big shots in big moments, rather than watching a teammate do it. Durant received plenty of criticism for his decision to go to Golden State, and while it absolutely made for an easier path to a title, it’s impossible not to note how important he was in leading the team in the Finals. That matters to Durant and clearly did wonders for his confidence as being the guy in the NBA, at least in his mind.
