NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas believes the Golden State Warriors dynasty wouldn’t be what it is today without Kevin Durant.
Thomas shared his thoughts on Durant’s move to the Warriors on Tuesday’s episode of “Draymond’s green show,” explaining how he helped change the narrative surrounding Golden State at the time.
“Before Kevin Durant came to Golden State, you were poised to be remembered as the team that went 73-9 and lost to a Cleveland Cavalier team in the Finals 3-1,” Thomas told Green. “You were up 3-1, and it was probably one of the biggest collapses in NBA Finals history, against a historic 73-9 team.
“Kevin Durant comes in that summer and really saves the legacy of basketball. And you win two championships after that. And now the Golden State Warriors dynasty that you’re going into the Hall of Fame for and everything else – it’s cemented. Because if Durant doesn’t come that summer and you’re remembered as the 73-9 team that lost 3-1 in the NBA Finals, all your legacies will be different.”
While Green didn’t go so far as to say Durant saved the Warriors’ legacy, he believes the 14-time NBA All-Star was instrumental in their championship runs.
“I’m never one to say, ‘Yo, K won championships because he came here.’ No, he helped us win championships,” Green said. “Now what I will say is he’ll never get the championship if he doesn’t come here because I just don’t foresee that happening anywhere else – otherwise we would have seen it happen again somewhere else . But it was a match made in heaven.”
Durant spent three years with the Warriors, winning back-to-back titles and two NBA Finals MVP awards in 2017 and 2018.
