Washington Wizards Fans: Don’t Blame Kevin Durant
Washington Wizards fans are heartbroken after Kevin Durant didn’t grant their team a meeting, but they shouldn’t blame the hometown hero
It’s been the better part of six months that realistic Washington Wizards fans have known Kevin Durant had no intention of coming home when he officially became a free agent on July 1st, 2016.
The plan that was years in the making, that required ultimate short and long-term sacrifices, and potentially left a once promising core scrambling for relevancy, was about to fall flat on its face and it seemed like everyone but the Washington brass knew it.
But nonetheless, regardless of what my mind has been telling me, when the news hit this weekend that Durant wasn’t even expected to grant the Wizards a MEETING, I was inconsolable.
How could this have gone so wrong?
I knew we didn’t have the inside track, hell, I even accepted we were a long-shot at best. But KD2DC ending without even the opportunity to pitch him on why he should come home?
So sitting there shell-shocked, my fellow Wiz of Awes writers and I just teed off about literally everything related to basketball, the NBA, and Kevin Durant.
We weren’t quite sure who to blame or where to place our anger but after writing countless articles, discussing it on numerous podcasts, and tweeting thousands of times about one topic, it was all for naught.
Our frustration wasn’t of course because of wasted time and effort, but because as die-hard Washington Wizards fans for decades, we hoped and prayed that this was going to be the move that changed the course of a star-crossed, largely irrelevant franchise that mattered to few others outside of the city.
And now? Not even a f—— meeting? Are you kidding?
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The natural inclination is to somehow blame Durant, as many across the Wizards Twitterverse have started to do (while those on the NBA Twitterverse have just mocked us for our naivety in the first place).
I definitely felt a little anger towards KD initially, because as DC’s prodigal son, I felt he owed the city at least a chance.
After LeBron delivered on his promise of a championship to Cleveland, it would be almost poetic for Durant to do the same to a region that hasn’t tasted glory in 24 years.
But why is any of this Durant’s problem?
Unlike LeBron, he’s never played for the Wizards and didn’t leave them at the altar in a gut-wrenching manner.
He’s made it clear he doesn’t enjoy the spoils of playing in front of hometown fans and after further tightening his inner circle, did not find the appeal in being harassed day and night by supposed friends and family looking for handouts.
And the Wizards have done themselves no favors by putting out a mediocre product year after year, proving definitively they’re far from being championship contenders.
Durant has been pretty vocal about his primary focus of winning championships.
The money and the fame don’t really benefit him because he already has plenty of both (playing in Oklahoma City of all places didn’t stop him from being one of the most marketed stars in the world over the last nine years).
If you really take a look at the teams on his list, they all offer virtues much greater than anything the Wizards can conceive.
•The Warriors with Durant has a chance to be the greatest team of all time, given that they recently came off of 73 wins and a near title, after claiming the championship in 2015.
•The Spurs are the prototypical winning factory, putting out five championships since 1999, with a foundational core of R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich that is pretty much unmatched in the league. Durant would slide in alongside Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge to form the best front court in the league.
•The Clippers are a star-laden bunch, on the cusp for so many years but easily imaginable to get over the hump if you add Durant to a roster that already includes Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan. Durant already calls Los Angeles home in the offseason so not having to move every summer would be a nice perk.
•The Celtics and Heat aren’t currently constructed to be much better than Washington, but have three times as many Finals appearances combined in the last ten years (six) than the Wizards have playoff series victories (two) so the proof is in the pudding.
That doesn’t even speak to the intangible advantages each feature, such as the basketball tradition in Boston or the posh lifestyle of Miami, neither of which the Wizards can come close to matching
•And of course, there’s the Thunder, which is really his best basketball situation. He plays alongside an absolute assassin in Russell Westbrook and the roster next year should afford its two stars the most depth they’ve ever enjoyed.
After considering the above logic, you really want to blame Kevin Durant of all people? No.
In fact, here’s a good list of people you should think about blaming:
- Ernie Grunfeld for punting on prime years of John Wall’s career in a misguided attempt to preserve cap space
- Randy Wittman for failing as a player developer, leaving the young core far from maximizing potential
- Ted Leonsis for allowing the aforementioned two to be employed three years too long
- Bradley Beal for not become the superstar he was intended to be
- Washington fans for cheering on KD at the expense of their own team… and finally,
- The Federal Government for dominating D.C. in such a manner that doesn’t create much opportunity for private industry and market potential.
Hating Durant for not coming home is illogical. Driving that hate deeper because he didn’t grant the team a meaningless sit down is even more so.
A lot of guys come from urban areas that house an NBA team, but very few actually want the pressure and distraction that comes with it.
Stephen Curry doesn’t need to go play for the Hornets next summer, Dwyane Wade has always resisted a return to Chicago, and LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t make the wrong decision by signing with San Antonio instead of Dallas.
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Just because fans deem it so, doesn’t require a player to share their desire to don the jersey of the hometown team. It works for some, but doesn’t for most others.
So don’t blame Durant. Blame our poorly run franchise.