Kevin Durant holds his new Golden State Warriors jersey during his introductory press conference (Photo : Getty Images / Thearon W. Henderson)
How many titles will the Golden State Warriors win? Just one, perhaps.
The season has not even begun but the idea of a recent MVP joining the current MVP on a 73-win team is just absurd. While LeBron James joining Miami was really a breakthrough, the situation with the Warriors now is simply incredible.
But you won't see Durant declaring that they will win "not one, not two, not three, not four" championships. That just isn't his style and perhaps, at the back of his mind, he is truly just thinking of one title.
No less than the Golden State Warriors president and COO Rick Welts mentioned on CBS Sports that all they expect from KD is the 2016-17 season.
"There's no commitment from Kevin," Welts said. "He signed a one-year contract with a player option. So I think the hope and expectation is there's a business reason for doing that more than there is a basketball reason for doing that. We've got to be a place that is as good as he thought it was when he selected the Warriors over the other options that he had. I think we're going through a really interesting time in our league. We're all trying to figure out what the new world is going to look like."
The Warriors sacrificed a lot to sign Kevin Durant. Only five players remain from their NBA championship team in 2015: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. Their frontline, aside from Green is non-existent and they lost a combination of veterans and promising young players (Bogut, Ezeli, Barnes, Speights). Now they could only attract title-chasing minimum players. It all works out if you have Durant-but to assume that this is certainly not a rental, at this point, is dangerous.
Lest we forget, the Warriors also have another free agent in the 2017 class: the reigning unanimous MVP Curry. The same Curry who confessed to Diamond Leung of Mercury News in 2014 that he still wants to play for his hometown Charlotte.
"That's hard to get out of your head, but obviously, it has no bearing on decisions that I make down the road. It's just a fun thought to have. The Hornets name does mean a lot to my family, and obviously I'm starting a new thing with the Warriors. I definitely feel right at home here (with Golden State)."
The idea of Curry leaving Golden State is preposterous if not outright crazy. Curry is not just a player, he is already part of the community, they even gave him the keys to the city.
What's even better than getting ceremonial keys to the city? Being offered a cabinet position. Kevin Durant had that with Oklahoma, as ESPN reported. That didn't make him stay.
There are no guarantees now, and no 80s NBA legend's comments can change that.
