I feel like this should be moved here. A little nugget from the past.

Trash post at the time, trash post now. What he did was a pathetic embarrassment, no player in history had ever given up the way he did.

 

interesting. Only thing i would say is Durant much like Lebron and the top 5-10 players in the league make hundreds of millions in endorsement deals outside the NBA. So taking a paycut wouldn’t be so difficult if you have income coming in through multiple means. But you do make a good point about CP3. He gets several endorsements as well.

 

trying to excuse away KD joining GS is cartoonish levels of simping

 

Not all max or supermax players have the same level of endorsements. Durant was only behind Lebron at the time raking in 36 mil in endorsements in 2016 when he signed with the Warriors. Paul made 8 mil in endorsements that same year. And he only made 6 mil in 2017 a year before signing that max deal with Houston.

Durant was the top 3 (bron, curry) in income from commercial partners in 2024 making $45 mil. Meanwhile Tatum for instance only made $13 mil.

 

KD shows he wants to win and willing to take paycut to do so.

I resented KD for rigging the league but at the same posters who say they want guy who do everything they can to win should be celebrating Lebron and KD and not hating on them. These 2 left their territory where they were the kings and joined or created a super team to ensure they win. You want guys to chase championships and do everything to win so this is what you get. I bet if Krause was a horrible GM and didnt get MJ any help he would have left too after a decade of 1st round exits. Hell Kobe was about to leave and crashing out after Lakers refused to trade Bynum for Jermaine O Neal.

 

Him taking 28 million a year would have been a big nugget from the present.

 

At that time, he wanted a shortcut to a ring...it wasn't as laudable as you think it was.

But now is a whole different scenario, I don't like the guy but he is still a Top 10- eleven ish player, I give him respect as a player but I still don't like him that much as a regular dude.

These dudes have sponsors lined up for them, they get that money back in no time.

 

Dude had the Warriors down 3-1, blew it, and then ran and joined them like a little b*tch.

This is a terrible take and now you want to bring attention back to it?

 

KD ruined league parity for 3 years by joining the Warriors screwing over teams like the Rockets who had Harden in his prime and probably even costed Lebron a ring (doesn't matter to me).

Tbh, I'm still really skeptical about KD on the Rockets but Stone's already paid him until he hits 40 so he's likely going to retire here. I just hope he can stay healthy and still produce 25ppg on elite efficiency. I'm not asking him to lead our guys or anything, I trust Ime will do that. He just needs to not cause any drama and ball out, that's all any of us should expect from him. Also, give some effort on defense.

Honestly, those 3 years with KD on the Warriors, I didn't watch them at all outside of the games against the Rockets. I don't hate many things in the world but the Warriors and their fanbase are definitely one of those things I hate. KD joining only made it much worse because you just knew they were gonna steamroll to the finals every year and they did outside the one year we challenged them with a healthy CP3 and what happens? Just like we thought, the refs screwed us because clearly this league is not 100% clean, Silver wanted the Warriors dynasty to happen so they'd get a huge boost to viewership and he succeeded. His legacy is that he created a fanbase so delusional that they're even worse than Knicks or Lakers fans. Warriors fans literally think Curry is the GOAT, not of their franchise but in the history of the league. They ignore everything Draymond does while calling anyone who attempts to play defense on Curry, dirty. For example, Amen is already labeled as dirty by that huge fanbase online since he was guarding Curry in the playoffs.

Even now, people look down on Houston and the Rockets, our social media posts never get as much traction as other teams like Spurs, OKC, Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, Warriors, Nuggets despite us actually being good. Even when Harden was at his prime, we were the most hated team outside of KD warriors but difference is they had just as many fans who loved them.

 

That team didn't play a game seriously for 2 and a half years. They dicked around every single game and wasted everyone's time. It should have never been assembled and it's KD's fault. Him being on the Rockets will never change that.