Kevin Durant came in 2nd his whole career. Now he’s finally a champion.
Durant was the second pick, second-best recruit, and second in three MVP races. Of course he went to Golden State.
There’s a weird stigma that envelopes finishing second. Logically, it should be celebrated — it’s just one behind the best and ahead of everything else. If sports were an Excel spreadsheet, then second best for a 30-team league should only be 1/30th worse than finishing first.
But we, dumb humans, who can’t even agree on what color some dress really was, don’t work like that. Some can bear it more than others, but admit it: everyone wants to be at the top.
Kevin Durant finished second repeatedly, over and over again throughout his career. On Earth Two, where humans aren’t driven by illogical emotions and rationalize their life in a more normal way, Durant Two must have pumped his fist and shouted, “Top two!” But the real Kevin didn’t react this way, and we know this because he has told us several times.
“I've been second my whole life,” Durant told Sports Illustrated in 2013. “I'm tired of being second. I'm not going to settle for that. I'm done with it.”
Durant rattled off several examples where he had finished second along with that quote. We’ll list them here.
Second best recruit in high school
Though Durant was a consensus five-star player with unlimited potential, he still couldn’t surpass Greg Oden as the top high school recruit. Durant headed to Texas while Oden starred at Ohio State.
Second overall pick in the NBA Draft
Like their recruiting rankings, Oden won out over Durant when the 2007 NBA Draft arrived. It was a contentious issue, but pundits generally agreed that Oden was the correct choice. Unfortunately, they couldn’t predict his injuries and Durant quickly surpassed Oden in no time at all.
Second in the 2012 NBA Finals
The Thunder exploded onto the scene in 2010 when they challenged the Lakers in the playoffs, and then they marched to the Western Conference Finals the next year before falling to Dallas. In 2012, though, Durant and Oklahoma City finally reached the Finals, only to be crushed by LeBron James’ Heat in five games.
Second in MVP voting
In 2010, 2012, and 2013, Durant finished second to LeBron James in the MVP voting, although all three were landslides in James’ direction.
Second best player
MVP voting isn’t a direct correlation with the best players in the league, but ever since Durant really emerged in 2009, he has had the largest consensus as the league’s second best player behind James.
Second to Russell Westbrook
Toward the end of Durant’s run in Oklahoma City — partially influenced by Durant’s injury plagued 2015 — it felt like Westbrook was taking precedent over Durant. He was taking more shots and driving the offense in a larger way. This is very subjective and partly can be credited to Durant himself, who always preferred a more efficient approach.
But Durant isn’t second anymore.
Whatever you want to say about Durant, he’s first now. He’s a champion and a Finals MVP. He carried the Warriors to wins throughout the postseasons and in the Finals, and he’s the man now. No longer is he deferring while Westbrook runs isolation and simply waiting for his turn to do the same, something that has been attributed to his decision to leave Oklahoma City.
Some people have even asked if he has surpassed James as the best player in the league, like this very rational column from CBS Sports’ Matt Moore — and other, less rational proclamations on Twitter. (Durant hasn’t, but it’s telling that people are at least asking that question.)
This isn’t a defense of any decision Durant made. Feel free to criticize him all the same, although you really should take note of whether you also criticize superstars who haven’t won rings.
But four years ago, Durant said it himself: he was tired of being second. Three years passed, and he still found himself second in almost everything he did. Rather than paraphrasing this line from Sports Illustrated’ Lee Jenkins, let’s just quote it.
The guy who once sat in the black leather terminal chairs next to the Thunder practice court and rattled off all the times he wound up second—going back to Greg Oden and the high school recruiting rankings—finished first.
Can anyone be surprised Durant is on the Warriors now?