Stephen A. & Brian Windhorst GET HEATED about Kevin Durant’s legacy 🍿 | First Take
On First Take, Rudy Gay makes his debut on the show alongside Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst, Elle Duncan and Molly Qerim.
0:00 Molly loaded up the show with Connecticut folks!
1:00 Kevin Durant blame game?
2:00 Stephen A. understands where KD is coming from
4:50 Windy’s not buying KD’s reasoning
6:00 Elle Duncan enjoyed KD’s comments
9:30 Since leaving the Warriors…
13:00 Durant’s legacy
14:30 Windy’s getting RILED UP
17:00 Stephen A. needs to make this clear
20:50 The Brooklyn situation
21:30 This is what Rudy thinks KD is guilty of…
25:30 Windy makes things real easy
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV
#ESPN
40 Comments
They keep parroting the same false narrative.
He wasn't the MVP during his Warriors days.
Windhorst had no bit of patience today. And I love it..
Why is Stephen A such a liar?… Isn’t he the same dude that said “As far as I’m concerned there is an asterisk on the two titles KD won in Golden State”? How did people “misconstrue” something you BLATANTLY declared… I’m so tired of these analysts acting like they are the celebrities people turn on the sports channels for, rather than just giving us the sports news we tuned for.
The downfall of Stephen A's credibility is something to document.
KD is not that dude …. Plain and simple.
Since when did teams have to care what the players want durant be selling drugs without basketball
How is the team better with KD?
Duncan is awesome!
They weren’t beating Toronto…They had beat the Bucks and the sixers wit jimmy butler. That team woulda won regardless. The Klaw was unstoppable that whole playoffs.
Windy just undercut his own argument – saying that SA and Rockets could have beaten KD, Curry, Thompson, Green while saying KD is great. Windy just sucks up.
Comparing kd to Steven A is ridiculous
Ii always makes me laugh, when SAS states that he was generalizing and not specifying as an argument. Stating he was being misquoted etc, but he wasnt being misquoted if he speaks it into existence. By saying that "people expect", it is a cop out and you are no longer making an argument of criticism but somehow in the same breath he speaks of Durants lack of leadership. He infers that it is Durant's lack of success getting to the post season and associating his lack of leadership as the reason for the lack of success.
The reality is that in this league, teams have to win and teams have to lose. If you reverse engineer what SAS is saying and try to apply it to Boston or Denver, it doesnt work. The reason is that there are so many things that come together when assembling a championship squad. Every position in a franchise has a role to play, GM's, coaches, medical staff and let not forget, the professional players. Everyone has a job to do, and you need to look at everything holistically to see what isnt working and make changes.
So my take on Durant is this, I understand his position of wanting to remain until the end of the season. His comments are not out of place. Timing is key to making you best decisions. While Pheonix isnt going anywhere this season, at least the fans get to see a great player play prime ball. From a legacy standpoint, I didnt like the move to GSW, but it made sense if all KD wanted was championships, and he got them. He did this while being the best player on the floor which cements him as a legend, espcially considering Curry's ascention into superstardom was at its peak at the time. He is one of the most consistanty prolific scorers we have ever seen, and his style of play is an attribute of who and how he is. Maybe he isnt the vocal leader, but his consistently reliable way he plays, is the backbone of any potential of success. If things are not working, they need personell changes to improve dynamics. This is the role of GM's and NBA scouts. It is the role of the coach to get everyone on the same page and interprit strategies correctly to locate advantageous situations again each opponent. So no, I will not say KD is the reason why his teams havent performed well, and no, I do not think the Jordan style of leadership is the blueprint for success. It worked for him because there were other things working adjacent to it.
Elle no one is moving the goalpost on KD … he’s simply never reached it.
KD has not proven he can do anything of substance without Steph.
Just because KD avgs 27/game it doesn’t equal wins.
No KD no back to back chips. plain and simple. and KD can do what he wants. I love how much it pisses off SAS
Windy straight cooked. He put the proper perspective in KDs career. KD hasn’t been in a great position to be successful post GS.
Brian Windhorst is always spot on ❤
Put lebron for Kevin Durant Suns a Playoff team I think not winning is a hurt to his legacy his style of play not transitioning to wins, if its more rebs more assist just all the different things Lebron brings KD doesn't. He does need a supporting cast. Durant is not just a scorer but thats the best part of his game and sometimes that's not enough.
I know he said “but I don’t believe him “ is crazy work
Stephen A you are the media, you cannot predict what the media will do. Thats just You doing it first lol
If Stephen A got one thing, it’s an impeccable vocabulary.
Windy 🔥🔥
KD can't even sniff a conference finals without Steph and even with all the help he has. Harden carried that OKC team against the Spurs. KD is so overrated, my goodness.
Kevin is Mr sensitive like Charles told everyone
SAS always says the same thing about Durant and it's tired and never true.
The rockets are in the 4th spot… Steven A you mis quoted🤔
ESPN would be foolish to not keep Windy
Wyndy hit that spurs ,warriors debate RIGHT ON THE NOSE!!!! STEPHEN A. DOUBLE TALKING
Durant is a stat padding, turnover king, game ruiner. lol OVERRATEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elle looking cute
yall are fried. kd definitely would and could have won if he stayed on the thunder. especially if they added and got paul George. the warriors100% was the favorites to win before kd got there and definitely could have won without kd. yall are dumb asf
Molly’s coughing at the beginning though
KD is a winner buy again that GSW chips is truly an easy way he's done because GSW that time is so stacked
This video should be labeled how do we never make KD accountable….he is overrated point blank period
Suns need a true point guard 🏀 Booker is a shooting guard
SAS you created the narrative.. not foreshadowed it
Man 4get that yall trash lebron but kd can't win without curry facts dude not leading nothing but a blunt rotation 💯
You can tell Windy kinda gets annoyed with SAS sensationalism and his tendacy to contradict himself.
KD like Randel from Recess
so after BW made a good and valuable point and made SAS criticism of KD look foolish.He then gives a eulogy on what he really said and how he was misquoted.Im black as they come but I'm rolling w/Windy on this one fr.SAS just hate to be wrong and trying reason his way out.
9:02 ONE playoff series! 😂 SAS is a moron!