Kevin Durant’s legacy is a topic of regular debate among NBA fans. There is no doubting his immense talent and abilities, and he’s often given the title of the NBA’s “most-gifted scorer” or something along those lines.
However, despite being one of the greatest offensive weapons of all-time, having an MVP, a pair of championships, and a pair of Finals MVPs, Durant’s standing with fans is murky at best. Some claim his championships need asterisks, because he joined one of the greatest teams of all-time to get them. Others point to the fact that he quite clearly elevated that Warriors team coming off a title loss and made them, truly, unbeatable by giving them a different dynamic — one that may ultimately be their downfall after this season, win or lose.
The future for Durant is also murky as he’s set to be a free agent once again this summer, but this time there’s a very real chance he leaves the Bay. There are questions about Durant’s relationship with his three All-Star teammates who were all with the Warriors prior to his joining, and those are only exacerbated by his spat with Draymond Green earlier in the season.
The team most have posited as having the best chance at pulling Durant away from Golden State is the New York Knicks, who are in position to make a serious run at top free agents this summer with over $50 million in cap space available to them — although, they also have to take care of RFA Kristaps Porzingis in the process. No one is more synonymous with Knicks basketball than Clyde Frazier, who has been among those to question whether Durant’s legacy should have an asterisk by it for joining the Warriors.
Frazier recently spoke with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News to clarify those comments from over the summer and said coming to the Knicks and winning would not only elevate Durant’s legacy, but thrust him into the GOAT conversation.
“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 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.”
It’s certainly quite the pitch from the former Knick and current MSG Network analyst, and he’s really not all that wrong. LeBron’s legacy was similarly questioned after he won a pair of titles with the Big Three Heat, but his ending Cleveland’s championship drought — and doing so against the 73-9 Warriors — put to rest questions about his abilities to win titles without significant help (although Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are far from scrubs).
Durant is now facing similar questions and while the task of winning a title in New York is just as Herculean as that of winning a title in Cleveland, it would certainly change the conversation around his legacy. That is of little doubt. The real question is how much Durant cares about that and whether he sees revitalizing the Knicks as a challenge capable of being conquered.
