Kevin Durant has been phenomenal so far in the Finals, and his three-point dagger to seal Game 3 on Wednesday night was arguably the most significant shot of his career as it puts him one step closer to his first NBA title. Hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of this series (and likely the Finals MVP) would be vindication for a man who’s taken relentless criticism for leaving Oklahoma City to join the Warriors.
But it appears as if Durant will never fully silence those critics, even among his peers. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert became the latest addition to his chorus of detractors on Wednesday night with this tweet, which of course was later deleted, as has become standard operating procedure in these scenarios.
When it comes to this topic, the demarcation lines are pretty clear-cut. There are those who believe Durant had every right to make his free agency decision and that he should be lauded for the time and dedication he put into playing for the Thunder for nearly a decade. Then, there are those who say he’s “soft” or “weak” for joining a team that beat up on him last year. Paul Pierce even recently compared it to getting beat up by bullies, then asking if you can join their gang.
If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that KD will never be able to convince this latter subset otherwise, but it’s safe to say that he’ll sleep a lot better at night surrounded by all the hardware he’s sure to amass in the process, especially while certain of his peer critics are busy watching the playoffs from home.
