Kevin Durant‘s playoff resume has been grotesquely underwhelming since leaving the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 offseason. Despite playing on two different teams where he had two All-Star teammates on each roster, he has won only two playoff series in five years, two fewer than the Warriors managed in one playoff run in 2022 en route to their fourth NBA title in seven years.
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Durant’s latest playoff series was perhaps the most demoralizing of his career. The bookmakers heavily favored the Phoenix Suns to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs but the series finished in a 0-4 thrashing of Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and co. The former MVP’s lack of playoff success since leaving the Warriors superteam has raised doubts about his place among the game’s greatest. Yet, Hall of Famer Paul Pierce quickly shut down the detractors on Tuesday’s episode of Undisputed on FS1, saying,
“[Kevin Durant] has shown to be the best player on the best team [on the Warriors]. Obviously, we are gonna have some questions about that move to Golden State. But he got it done. He got two championships. MVP with Oklahoma City [Thunder]. Went to some Conference Finals with OKC as a young player. One of the greatest players we’ve ever seen play this game… I don’t think his legacy needs to be salvaged. [Kevin Durant’s] legacy is set in stone already. We recognize him as one of the best ever.”
Pierce noted that Durant’s run with the Nets was marred with injuries, which is true. He did not play in the 2019-2o season as he was still recovering from the Achilles injury he suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals. In the 2020-21 playoffs, the Nets faced eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks, in the second round without Kyrie Irving and a severely injured James Harden. Durant averaged nearly 46 minutes in that series and came within a few inches of eliminating the Bucks almost on his own.
That said, the following three years have been thoroughly disappointing. A 4-0 first-round series loss against the Boston Celtics with the Nets, a second-round defeat against the Nuggets last year, and a first-round sweep this season with the Suns are beyond unacceptable. While Durant isn’t solely at fault for these disappointing losses, he’s the common denominator and has to shoulder a big chunk of the responsibility for them.
Kevin Durant prompted the Suns to make sweeping changes after Timberwolves thrashing
Accountability is not Kevin Durant’s strongest trait. He quit on the Nets after a series of controversies and joined the Suns hoping to add to his ring collection. Instead, six months into his stint there, he was allegedly involved in head coach Monty Williams’ firing after Phoenix’s playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets, per Arizona Sports.
The Suns hired former championship-winning coach Frank Vogel on a five-year deal to replace Williams with Durant and Booker’s blessings. His defensive scheme coupled with Phoenix’s offensive arsenal was expected to turn Phoenix into a juggernaut. However, injuries to Beal hampered their regular season campaign, but they managed to finish sixth, avoid the play-in tournament, and book their playoff berth.
The first-round series was a chance for a healthy Suns team to showcase their pedigree, but instead, the Timberwolves beat them to a pulp and ended their season. Following their exit, NBA insider Shams Charania dropped a scathing postmortem report of the Suns’ bitterly disappointing campaign on The Athletic, in which he claimed Durant wasn’t pleased with Vogel’s offensive game plan for him, per the Athletic.
A five-year contract doesn’t guarantee job security as Charania reported that Vogel was likely on his way out of Phoenix after only one season with the franchise. For the second straight season, Durant and Booker’s poor playoff performances were dismissed as a result of underwhelming coaching.
The two-time Finals MVP has been part of two failed superteam experiments in five years since leaving the Warriors. If this continues going south, he’ll likely bail on Phoenix and potentially head to another team stacked with talent, while the Suns will be left licking their wounds like the Nets are.
