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Tim Duncan left basketball this week, quietly, like Tim Duncan would. No farewell hoopla, no presents. Duncan will always be the humblest top-10 NBA player ever and Duncan will always be a Spur.
Contrast that to Kevin Durant’s decision to leave Oklahoma City last week, after nine seasons with the same franchise (KD played his rookie year for the Seattle Supersonics, who moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008). Durant posted on The Players’ Tribune that his decision was “extremely difficult” and that his biggest factors were the ability to grow as a player and evolve as a man.
In his last five seasons with the Thunder, he lost in the NBA Finals once, and in the Conference Finals three other times. Durant didn’t chase a bigger paycheck, in fact he will earn less this season. He wasn’t looking to pad his stats, as they will assuredly plummet on the Warriors super-duper team where everyone needs to share the ball.
Regardless of his growth and evolution, Kevin Durant may not be the greatest basketball player ever, but he is the greatest in the world at knowing what Kevin Durant needs. And apparently when Kevin Durant looks enviously at Tim Duncan, he wants Tim’s rings and not Tim’s progress on a 30-year mortgage.
Also recently relocating is Dwyane Wade, who left the Miami Heat after 13 seasons. Wade IS Miami in the sense that any player can be a city. He turned a Dolphins town into a Heat town… at least from midway through the first quarter until a few minutes before the final buzzer. He imported LeBron James. He was crucially important to three championship teams. He had the rings AND the mortgage.
But even with so many specific, tangible measurements, basketball conversations keep gravitating to one word: legacy. As in, what happens to Duncan/Durant/Wade’s legacies because of the recent changes in their relationship status? It’s complicated.
Chasing a legacy seems a lot like chasing a tail. For one, every movement changes that very thing you are after, so what’s the point? Your legacy won’t rest until you do, so spending time trying to affect it is essentially running in circles.
When Durant left OKC, his legacy was altered. He is no longer the monogamous Thunder lifer. He is giving up the potential distinction of “greatest Thunder player ever” and trading it in for the hope to not get stuck on the Charles Barkley/Patrick Ewing list of “greatest NBA players to never win a title.” Think of it as a choose your own adventure. The decisions are up to you, but the final judgement on you remains in others’ hands.
Many of us forget that Tim Duncan almost left the Spurs for the Magic in 2000 to join Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady as a trio, before Big 3s were commonplace in the NBA. It’s hard to believe he would have accomplished more in Orlando, but if he had made that move, it may have also set in motion a butterfly effect. Doc Rivers was the Magic head coach in 2000 meaning his legacy could have been charted for a different course. As Kevin Garnett, a championship player under Rivers, once said “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLE.”
Think about LeBron James. A month ago, the Cavaliers were down 3-1 in the NBA Finals and people were wondering if he was going to be the greatest loser ever. LeBron’s legacy is still so far from being cemented, but we know many of the elements in the formula.
LeBron’s legacy has twists, turns, loops, rises, and falls like the creation of an overzealous kid playing RollerCoaster Tycoon. He has been labeled “chosen,” “disgraced,” and many things in between. He has been a hero, a villain, a backstabber, and a savior. Even Jason Segal has an opinion.
Like Durant recently, LeBron jerseys were being burned en masse by his scorned fans, something that would be hard to explain to an outsider who saw Clevelanders crying tears of joy by his presence, just a month ago. And here we thought Bon Jovi was the only one with the power to turn back time.
It’s funny how winning can change the whole conversation. But it’s also funny how losing can change the whole conversation. Or moving. Or doing anything remarkable at all. And that’s the point.
Durant isn’t selfish or cowardly for teaming up with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, the same way LeBron isn’t selfless for going back to Cleveland. LeBron is currently enjoying mythical folk hero status, but what if he doesn’t re-sign with the Cavs? He has suggested re-signing is a mere formality, but still, what if? What if Durant gets his rings and levels up in Golden State and then goes back to OKC?
Marking your height on the door frame is a nice, Norman Rockwellian way to see your path, but it foretells legacy as well as an unmarked door frame, or no door at all. Stop with the legacy prognosticating and just enjoy your Durants, Wades, and James-es before they bow out like Duncan, or Kobe Bryant before him. A legacy in motion, stays in motion.
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