When people think back to the 2016-17 NBA season, the vast majority of fans will remember how it began, how it ended and not much in between. They’ll remember Kevin Durant spurning the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign with the Golden State Warriors and how dominant the Durant-led Warriors were in the NBA Finals, beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games on Monday. And chances are most people outside the Bay Area will have plenty of criticism — or pure hate — for both of those moments.
But not me.
I’ll remember those two league-altering moments a little differently. I’ll remember the stories of Stephen Curry getting on a plane with other members of the organization and flying across the country to The Hamptons to recruit and eventually persuade Durant to come to Oakland. And I’ll remember the sure joy on Curry’s face when Durant was awarded the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award over him.
Three NBA Finals for Curry — a two-time regular season MVP and the league’s first-ever unanimous selection — and zero Finals MVP trophies. And it looked like he couldn’t care less as the confetti fell and he captured his second league championship in three years.
Professional athletes in their prime talk about sacrifice all the time. How they left money on the table or how they checked their ego at the door all for a chance at a championship. Most of the time that talk is just that, talk. But it’s hard to argue that Durant’s move and the season that followed would have been possible without Curry, who was already making less money than Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, saying he was OK with having another MVP come in and possibly steal his team, his fans, his role as the “Alpha” and his stranglehold on shoe sales (Curry is with Under Armor and Durant is signed to Nike) in the Bay Area.
Yet Curry, according to reports, not only got on that plane and told Durant face-to-face that he was fine with possibly taking a back seat but also felt compelled to text his future teammate after the meeting to make sure his message was clear: the only thing he cares about is winning.
I can’t imagine many former MVP’s giving up half of what Curry did this season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Probably not. Magic Johnson? Debatable. Michael Jordan? Forget about it. Sure, there’s Tim Duncan but we can all agree that the San Antonio Spurs Hall of Fame big man was a unicorn.
And Curry not only had to sacrifice his image as the “Alpha” but he also had to deal with the consistent questioning as to why he wasn’t putting up the same numbers as last season. Where had his 3-point shot gone? Why is he not the focal point of the offense anymore? Are the Warriors a better team without Durant? I wish I’d made up the last question but, no, people are weird.
Consider that Curry struggled to find his way during the first half of the season because he was trying to give up too many of his scoring responsibilities to Durant. He was passing up layups, dribbling out of open 3-pointers and standing around a lot of the time as the Warriors tried to mix Durant into the flow of their offense. And yet, he still almost made the 50-40-90 club (that’s shooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc and 90 percent from the free throw line) for the second straight season, something only six other players have done in the history of the NBA.
So, yes, Curry went from the lovable poster boy of the NBA to the ugly stepchild that everyone looks at funny and asks under their breath, “what happened to them?” And he ultimately didn’t care because he just wanted to win.
In the words of Durant: Curry, you the real MVP.
Speaking of Durant…
At this point, I know that there is no way to convince a person that disagrees with Durant’s decision to leave Oklahoma City and join Golden State.
What I can say is that that Durant did not ride anyone’s coattails to a ring. Durant needed the Warriors and the Warriors needed Durant. The Warriors — 73 wins and all — could not beat James, the best player of this generation, and a fully healthy Cavaliers team last season without Durant. I can hear the excuses already.
• “But they were missing Draymond for Game 5!” The Cavs were without Kyrie Irving for nearly all of the 2015 NBA Finals.
• “But Steph wasn’t healthy!” Kevin Love missed the entirety of the ’15 NBA Finals.
Last year’s Warriors had three chances to get one win and they couldn’t. This year’s Warriors were faced with the same task and they got it done on the first try. Durant was the difference.
There must have been other reasons for Durant’s move — like lifestyle, relationships and business opportunities — but chief among them had to be Curry’s unselfishness that emanates from him and flows through the entire organization. And it’s that unselfishness that will most likely lead the Warriors to at least another pair of titles.
There’s an expectation now in the Bay Area. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re a two-time MVP, a former All-Star like Andre Iguodala or a rattail wearing, oddball center like JaVale McGee, when you play for the Warriors you better be ready to do two things: sacrifice and win.
