The Golden State Warriors ran the NBA in the late 2010s, and a superstar addition was the key reason.
In 2016, the Warriors shocked the NBA world when they signed Kevin Durant in free agency. As most around the league viewed the deal as a weak move from Durant and argued it might even ruin the league as a whole, the Warriors knew they had to capitalize on something special.
It didn’t take long for Golden State to illustrate its dominance with Durant in town. Joining forces with Stephen Curry, the Warriors had arguably two of the league’s top three players and turned that into a couple of championships.
Who Was the Leader?
While Durant and Curry joining forces led to a couple of titles, it also led to some heated debates about who the top dog was. Durant was joining Curry’s team after the latter had just won back-to-back MVPs, but Durant’s two Finals MVPs painted a different story.
CBS Sports’ All-Quarter Century teams might be able to help settle the debate. In the outlet’s placement of the top players since 2000, Curry was a unanimous first-team selection, while Durant fell to the second team.
While that likely paints the correct picture, it’s important to remember that there’s a solid chance both would be on the first team if CBS went positionless. Unfortunately for Durant, it didn’t, and he was stuck behind LeBron James at small forward.
Still, Curry’s obvious selection on the first team, even in a positionless ranking, still places him above Durant, who would still have to fight past some other legends, such as Nikola Jokic and Kobe Bryant, for a spot.
