NBA news: Kevin Durant disagrees with Dwyane Wade statue take
10/30/2024 03:30 PM
Dwayne Wade is the latest NBA legend to receive a statue, as the Miami Heat honored him earlier this week. After the unveiling, the three-time champion and 13-time All-Star predicted three active NBA players he thinks will receive the honor next: LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
James has a high chance of receiving a statue from at least two of his teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, while Curry will certainly receive one from the Golden State Warriors. However, Durant isn’t feeling confident about his chances.
“I disagree with D-Wade, but I appreciate him for putting me in that category,” he told Kay Adams on The Up and Adams Show. “I appreciate the love, though, and the respect that people show me. That’s enough for me.”
Durant has no shortage of accolades throughout his illustrious career. The 35-year-old is a two-time champion, Finals MVP, league MVP, 14-year All-Star and 11-time All-NBA selection. He also ranks eighth on the league’s all-time scoring list.
However, while Durant has solidified his case as one of the top players in NBA history, his career decisions leave a complicated legacy.
Why Kevin Durant feels he’ll never receive an NBA statue
After nine seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Durant infamously left to join Stephen Curry and the Warriors, who had already won a championship and came back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate Durant the prior season.
He won two championships alongside Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green before leaving to team up with Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets. Durant’s Brooklyn tenure was filled with off-court drama and severely underwhelming on-court results. He requested trades from the Nets on two separate occasions and called for general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash to be fired.
Durant was eventually traded to Phoenix, where he has not yet found team success. The Suns were eliminated in the second round of the 2023 playoffs before being swept in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves last season.
“I highly, highly doubt I get a statue of me put anywhere for playing basketball,” Durant said. “Dwayne Wade is a different case, man. He is Miami. He is the Heat. So it’s a different case with him. There’s very few players that get that type of love in a city like that, and it’s usually those guys that got the HOF career, with the championships, and you’ve been with one city for a long time. That’s not the case for me.”
.@KDTrey5 on Kay and D-Wade saying he deserves his own statue one day…
"I highly highly doubt I get a statue of me put anywhere for playing basketball… It's usually those guys that got the HOF career, with championships, you been with one city for a long time. That's not… pic.twitter.com/QcyOZf3TZl
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) October 30, 2024
Durant’s best chance to receive a statue will be by defying expectations and winning the Suns their first NBA championship. However, after two early playoff exits, it feels unlikely that Phoenix will come out of a loaded Western Conference headlined by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.
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