If there is one thing that is not up for debate at this point, it is that Kevin Durant will one day retire from the NBA as one of the 20 best players of all time. Depending on your feelings towards him, he might even crack your top 10. No matter where you put him though, he is an all-time great and will have his jersey retired by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But what about the Golden State Warriors? Durant won two championships there and was a two-time Finals MVP as well. He made a historically great team even better and was one of the driving forces in the organization dominating the NBA for three straight years. If you’re asking Draymond Green, then Durant getting his number 35 retired in San Francisco is a no-brainer.
But is that actually the right thing to do, both for the Warriors and for the league itself because of what it would mean if they did retire his jersey?
Golden State Warriors should not retire Kevin Durant’s jersey
In the grand scheme of things, this argument might feel like an insignificant one. But when it comes to talking about the legacy of players and who was better than the other, something we all seem to spend too much time obsessing over, details like this matter. Do you think LeBron James is going to get his numbers (23 or 6) retired by the Los Angeles Lakers?
If you say no, then consider this. He has spent four seasons there, and while two of them have ended poorly (with this season being an absolute disaster), James also brought the Lakers a championship. He was the Finals MVP during that run, and, while in a Lakers jersey, is going to become the leading point scorer in league history at some point.
At age 37, he may end up winning the scoring title while also a part of the franchise. That’s pretty impressive, right? Yet in comparison to his runs with the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice) and Miami Heat, it might not be enough to get his jersey retired in Los Angeles. Their own personal Hall of Fame rivals that of the actual Hall, and LeBron’s best years happened elsewhere.
Some of the best years of Kevin Durant’s career were indeed with the Warriors, but he was only there for three seasons. During that third year, after winning two straight championships, he tore his Achilles in the playoffs and went down, allowing the Toronto Raptors to win a championship. He never suited up for the Warriors again before moving to the Brooklyn Nets.
How is that any more valuable than what LeBron has brought to the Lakers? Durant may have won more championships and personal honors, but James is giving more of his time to the Lakers and is in line to break long-standing records in the process. Both are all-timers, but just because they spent some time with a franchise, doesn’t mean they automatically should get their number retired.
Michael Jordan is the greatest to ever do it, but the Washington Wizards didn’t see fit to retire his jersey. It seems only right that these legends of the game have their legacies more closely tethered to certain teams where they are most fondly remembered.
Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers is somebody who is surely going to have his number retired there one day. If he were to move to the Philadelphia 76ers, for example (this James Harden experience has been worrying so far…), and win two championships, would he then get his jersey retired there too?
His best days came in Portland, but that also highlights the other reason that Lillard wouldn’t get his jersey retired, and Durant shouldn’t either. Philadelphia will always be Joel Embiid’s city as long as he plays there. When Durant joined the Warriors, it remained Stephen Curry’s team and city the entire time they played together, even though Durant was the better of the two for much of the three seasons he was there.
It has and always will be, a Stephen Curry town. So if you are an elite player who moves teams every handful of years (which is allowed and practically encouraged at this point), why should you also get to reap the rewards of getting your jersey retired at several of these stops as well? After all, wasn’t the point of a jersey retirement to show how much a player meant to a city?
Whether they won a championship or not, like Charles Barkley, their outstanding contributions and longevity with one organization warranted their number being retired. If we’re going to do this for every great player who comes through a town, Kawhi Leonard might get his number retired three times when it’s all said and done.
We’re going to run out of numbers if we keep up with that kind of attitude. Kevin Durant was amazing for the Warriors and continues to be just that for the Nets. He should get his jersey retired in Oklahoma because of all he did in trying to get them over the top. If joining an already championship-level team warrants a retirement, where will this madness end?