Kevin Durant has been criticised for a lot of things over the years. Fighting fans on social media, sending tweets from burner accounts, and even the way he treated iShowSpeed on the Impaulsive podcast have drawn fans’ ire. But the most persistent criticism he faces stems from arguably his biggest accomplishment. For the uninitiated that would be the two rings Durant won with the Golden State Warriors.
Many viewed him joining the team as unfair. After all, despite losing the finals to the Cavs, the Warriors had gone 73-9 in the 15-16 regular season. Add another top 5 player in the NBA to that team and that is many people’s definition of unfair. But more importantly, many fans criticize him for riding the bus that Stephen Curry drove during all those years.
However, Durant himself has never viewed his three seasons in the Bay Area as a passenger on an already-built dynasty. His latest comments made that position about as clear as possible. “They don’t win those two rings without me, plain and simple. There is no dynasty if I wasn’t there,” Durant said in comments that resurfaced this week.
It isn’t like Durant is making a baseless claim either. After all, Golden did State lose the 2016 Finals to Cleveland, blowing a 3-1 lead. But after adding Durant to the mix, they were able to repeat as champions in 2017 and 2018. More importantly, KD won Finals MVP both those years. That does not have the makings of a busrider by any means.
“You the reason I missed out on two rings, dog. It was your fault how you went & joined some ni**as that didn’t need you. They didn’t need you!”
He was also central to how those teams functioned. Curry remained the focal point of Golden State’s offense, but Durant gave Steve Kerr another elite scorer who could get a bucket almost at will. All this while having the efficiency he does made the Warriors nearly unbeatable. That became especially important in the Finals, where Durant led the Warriors in scoring in every game of the 2017 series and averaged 35.2 points.
The debate now is less about whether Durant was excellent and more about how much credit he should receive for what Golden State became. In this vein, one of the players Durant faced in the Finals during his time in the Bay Area gave his two cents on the entire situation.
Iman Shumpert Calls Out Kevin Durant
Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert recently revisited Durant’s 2016 decision during an appearance on Gil’s Arena. Shumpert was part of four straight Cleveland teams that reached the NBA Finals. This includes the 2016 group that stunned Golden State after falling behind 3-1.
From his perspective, Durant’s arrival changed what could have been the remainder of that rivalry. “You the reason I missed out on two rings, dog. It was your fault how you went and joined some [expletive] that didn’t need you,” Shumpert said.
It is nearly impossible to argue with Shumpert. KD did make the Warriors into an unstoppable juggernaut. Even having LeBron James and Kyrie Irving didn’t make much of a difference against that Dubs team in 2017. Things only got worse in the 2018 Finals as even a monster 51-point explosion in the first game couldn’t stop the Warriors from blowing out the Cavs on their way to winning a second straight NBA title.
Nonetheless, Shumpert’s argument is ultimately about a hypothetical. Durant was certainly the dagger when it came to killing every other team’s chances of winning a chip. However, there is no way to know whether Cleveland would have won either series had Durant signed elsewhere.
That said, Durant did not leave the criticism alone.
Kevin Durant responds to Iman Shumpert
After Shumpert’s comments circulated, Durant responded to him on Threads. The post was later deleted, but screenshots spread across social media, keeping the exchange alive. “Toughen up shorty. Thanks for taking care of that man Gil, he was dead in the water,” Durant wrote, referring to Gilbert Arenas, the host of the show.
Shumpert responded on X afterward, saying he liked how “petty” Durant was while leaving the argument for fans to debate. That back-and-forth lands differently when viewed alongside Durant’s latest claim about the Warriors. He is not disputing that Golden State already had an exceptional core. His argument is that the team needed what he brought to finish the job against Cleveland and establish the run that followed.
Golden State’s own history supports part of that case. The franchise had already won in 2015 and eventually won again in 2022, while Durant’s two championships came in between those titles. Ultimately, it is impossible to know what would have happened if Kevin Durant stayed in Oklahoma.
Kevin Durant Makes Blunt Claim About Warriors Dynasty as Iman Shumpert Reopens Old Debate