Kevin Durant surprises by choosing the best team of his career and then backtracks

Kevin Durant reopened the debate about which was the best roster he has played on during his career in the NBA. The current Houston Rockets player initially argued that the Brooklyn Nets of the 2020-21 season had more talent than the Golden State Warriors he joined in 2016, although he later retracted this upon recalling a key piece of the Warriors' roster.

The comparison came up during an episode of the podcast Boardroom Talks, in which Durant was asked which team he considered superior if only the available talent in the roster was taken into account. His first response was clear.

"If we only consider the roster, without any other factors? Yes, I would say Brooklyn," stated Durant.

Durant chose the Nets for their accumulated talent

Durant particularly highlighted the number of stars that were part of that Brooklyn team. The core was led by Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Durant himself, although the roster also included highly accomplished veterans such as Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, and Patty Mills.

"These Nets players I'm talking about had already finished their careers," Durant explained while comparing the individual recognition accumulated by both rosters.

The former Nets player also defended his argument by comparing the accolades of some of the Golden State players with those of his teammates in Brooklyn.

"I think: if you analyze that team, at that moment, Steph was MVP, but Klay and Draymond didn't receive as much recognition. They were one-time All-Stars," he pointed out.

The players mentioned by Durant had an impressive individual history. Griffin, Aldridge, Millsap, and Mills collectively had 38 All-Star selections and 21 appearances in the NBA's best lineups, although a significant part of those accolades belonged to earlier stages of their careers.

The Nets fell short

Durant's argument references one of the most talented rosters Brooklyn had, although that project never achieved the goal for which it was built.

The Nets finished the 2020-21 season with a record of 48-24 and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals. There, they faced the Milwaukee Bucks in a series that went to a seventh game.

Brooklyn was eliminated after a series marked by injuries. Harden had physical problems, and Irving also missed part of the series, leaving Durant as the team's main reference.

The anticipated project formed by Durant, Harden, and Irving also lacked continuity. The three players only played together in 16 regular-season games before Harden was traded in February of the following year.

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But the Warriors had something the Nets could not achieve

The problem for Durant's argument is that the Warriors had not only individual talent. They also proved on the court that they could turn it into championships.

During Durant's first season in Golden State, the Warriors finished with a spectacular record of 67-15 and subsequently won the NBA championship.

In his three seasons with the franchise, Durant was part of a team that averaged 60 wins per season, reached three consecutive Finals, and won two championships.

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Durant formed one of the most dominant teams in recent NBA history.

And precisely when he was reminded of another version of the Warriors, his opinion changed.

Durant remembered DeMarcus Cousins

The clarification came when he was asked about the Warriors of the 2018-19 season, a roster that included DeMarcus Cousins after the center arrived as a free agent.

"Well, obviously the best team I played on was the Warriors; the 2019 team was incredible," Durant acknowledged.

Then he recalled the immense talent that roster had on paper.

"With Cousins at center, it’s probably the best team I've been a part of. I had forgotten about Cousins," he added.

The problem was that injuries prevented that team from demonstrating its full potential. Cousins also suffered an injury during that season, while Durant had his own physical issues during the playoffs.

"If you analyze it on paper, it's probably that one, yes," concluded Durant.

Durant's best teams

Brooklyn remains special for Durant

Despite ultimately placing the Warriors above, Durant did not change his assessment of that Brooklyn project. For him, the 2020-21 Nets remain his second favorite team of all the ones he has been part of.

"That Brooklyn team is my second favorite," he stated.

Durant also acknowledged that he still thinks about what could have happened if that team had managed to stay healthy and reach the championship.

"It would have been amazing to see a championship parade in Brooklyn," he explained.

The player even imagined what the celebration in New York would have been like.

"They would have been hating us like crazy in New York. The parade, for real. That's what I think about that team. Everyone in black, all our fans would have been dressed in black. That's all I think about."

The comparison thus leads to an interesting conclusion: Durant believes the Warriors were the best team of his career, but still holds those Nets as one of the rosters that gathered the most talent around him. The difference, ultimately, was in what each project managed to do with that talent.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Kevin Durant sorprende al elegir el mejor equipo de su carrera y después se retracta