Every Wednesday, as ESPN gets set to play some classic NBA Finals game, the crew from The Jump takes the opportunity to rewrite history.
This Wednesday, with two Cavs/Warriors Finals set to air, the Jump crew looked back at Kevin Durant’s already much-discussed decision to leave Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, where he spent three seasons, winning two titles and nearly a third if not for his injuries.
So what if KD stayed in OKC. Kendrick Perkins believes that despite the Thunder blowing the Western Conference Finals to the Warriors the year prior, if Durant and Russell Westbrook has stayed together, they would’ve gotten over the hump and eventually built the Thunder dynasty that was promised. Paul Pierce sees it a little differently.
“If KD stays in Oklahoma, I could see no dynasty for the Warriors. I could see no dynasty at all. You have to look at the balance of power then,” The Truth said. “If [The Warriors] don’t get KD, LeBron could be sitting on a couple more titles. It would be hard to say who would’ve been a dynasty at that time…it would’ve been a back and forth. Maybe Oklahoma won one, Cleveland won one, the Warriors get one more. Who knows?”
Watch below as Paul, Perk and Rachel Nichols discuss the potential of the Thunder and the power struggle that ultimately did them in.
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