Kevin Durant and Lebron James are two of the biggest talents in the NBA. Both are also free agents in the NBA this year. Kevin Durant signed a 5 year extension with Oklahoma City and announced it on twitter. Lebron James is starring in a one hour show on ESPN to make an announcement. Thing is neither of these guys have one a championship, and in fact Kevin Durant had a better off season than Lebron – arguable I know, but Durant lost to the eventual champs, Lebron lost to the Celtics who lost to the champs.
If there’s any truth to the Simmons-Smith Lebron-Wade-Bosh-Paul conspiracy to all play together (note: that post is a must read for all ball fans) than this is even worse than I thought. Lebron was playing for a move to Miami and that explains his no-show against the Celtics in the playoffs and Bosh mailed it in while he was in his last season in Toronto as well. I’m getting angrier as I write this.
The point is that if you’re going to make a decision that has a huge impact on a number of different stakeholders be careful how you package the announcement. Durant has won a lot of praise for the class he has shown, by not making it a big deal and by signing with the team that brought him into the league and is assembling a really good young nucleus. Lebron in comparison has dragged the city of Cleveland, where he grew up and grew famous through a really bitter off-season not revealing his hand. Don’t even get me started on Chris Bosh.
I hope none of these guys wins a title for Miami. If there’s any truth to the idea that what goes around comes around, Miami will lose to Orlando or Boston or Chicago, or the Lakers, or Durant and the thunder. I won’t be rooting for these guys even if Lebron does go to the Knicks with Amar’e, unlike Simmons who believes he could sign off on a decision to bring basketball back in the Mecca, I just couldn’t bring my self to root for a guy who acted so carelessly.
This could have all been avoided if some of these players had just shown more class, more dignity more loyalty to their franchises and less selfishness. More Kevin Durant less Lebron James.
