Charles Barkley: Warriors' success without Kevin Durant hurts his legacy

Three years after Kevin Durant left them in free agency, the Warriors are back in the Finals and the Nets couldn’t win a playoff game. It’s a narrow view of a complicated legacy question but, as Charles Barkley reiterated Wednesday, it can stand as an argument against Durant’s placement on the NBA’s Mount Rushmore. “You know it has an effect on his legacy,” said Barkley, who was promoting his upcoming appearance at the American City Golf Championship at Tahoe. “If you go back and look, and I talked about it on the show, LeBron has said it before — he said, ‘I had to win a championship without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.’ And Kobe’s said it before, Rest in Peace, ‘I’ve got to win a championship without Shaq.’ “So Kevin and Kyrie , before we elevate them among the old guys, they’re not going to get the credit they deserve until they win a championship by themselves and be The Guy.”
Source: Stefan Bondy @ New York Daily News

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
I’ve generally been very pro-Steph throughout the dynasty and KD years and even I’m now wondering if I’ve massively underrated Steph for his entire career. – 10:48 PM Stefan Bondy @SBondyNYDN
Charles Barkley sees little hope in Leon Rose’s roster:
“They’re not close at all. …They got a bunch of J.A.G.s as I call them. Just A Guy.”
nydailynews.com/sports/basketb… – 7:53 PM Stefan Bondy @SBondyNYDN
Charles Barkley on Kevin Durant’s legacy being hurt by Warriors success/Nets failures; Barkley also under the impression Kyrie Irving will opt into final year of his contract nydailynews.com/sports/basketb… – 7:41 PM The Ringer @ringernba
Tatum on KD.
Draymond on Jaylen Brown.
What are some of the best defensive performances of the playoffs?
Presented by @StateFarm. #ad pic.twitter.com/SyQSClOhjX – 4:07 PM Justin Kubatko @jkubatko
📅 On this day in 2018, the @Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant had 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in a title-clinching win over the Cavs in Game 4 of the Finals.
Durant was named Finals MVP for the second straight year. He’s one of six players to win the award in consecutive Finals. pic.twitter.com/gaocbSzAHn – 12:01 PM BasketNews @BasketNews_com
Mike James is interested in reuniting with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn 👀 pic.twitter.com/qKg4blG8gp – 4:25 AM Chase Hughes @ChaseHughesNBCS
“We’re talking K.D. status.”
I asked Tracy McGrady how good Jayson Tatum can be. He said he can reach the level of Kevin Durant. nbcsports.com/washington/wiz… – 5:57 PM Mike Vorkunov @MikeVorkunov
Wrote about Boardroom and what Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman are trying to do by getting into digital media, a notoriously volatile space. theathletic.com/3342038/2022/0… – 4:45 PM Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
I wrote about how Golden State’s third quarter pick-and-rollathon rained hellfire upon the Boston defense, and the lessons from Kevin Durant that helped inspire it.
cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-f… – 12:47 PM Jorge Sierra @hoopshype
Draymond Green: “When KD was here, our offense still started with Steph. That’s the way it’s always going to be.” pic.twitter.com/bWVxxv4aOc – 9:47 AM StatMuse @statmuse
KD vs BOS Steph vs BOS
26.3 PPG 31.5 PPG
38.6 FG% 45.7 FG%
33.3 3P% 46.2 3P%
Steph had as many threes in Game 1 as KD did in 4 games vs the Celtics. pic.twitter.com/DJXn8twCBd – 9:15 AM Jason Dumas @JDumasReports
“It all starts with Steph. When KD was here, our offensive still started with Steph and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Draymond Green on Steph setting the tone on offensive during a series that the Warriors don’t have as much offensive firepower as past finals teams. pic.twitter.com/MeG8OTK8tJ – 11:40 PM Ben Golliver @BenGolliver
Warriors’ Draymond Green after Finals Game 2 win over Celtics: “It all starts with Steph. When KD was here, our offense still started with Steph.” – 11:27 PM Connor Letourneau @Con_Chron
Draymond Green: “When KD was here, our offense still started with Steph. That’s the way it’s always going to be.” – 11:27 PM

More on this storyline

On Wednesday, Barkley acknowledged his standards are high. “We grade harshly. And rightfully so. They get to give me s–t because I didn’t win a championship. Rightfully so. We know how this works,” Barkley said. “This ain’t got nothing to do with the media. This ain’t got nothing to do with the fans. This has to do with your peers. This 100 percent has to do with your peers. And we’re going to judge you on that. And people are going to get mad. They can tweet at me and whatever they want to. But that’s just the standard. “When you jump on somebody else’s boat and win, we don’t count that. You got to be the driver of the boat or the bus. Simple.” -via New York Daily News / June 8, 2022 Jay King: Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II and Otto Porter are all good to go, per Steve Kerr. -via Twitter @ByJayKing / June 8, 2022 Brian Robb: Steve Kerr on Warriors basket being set too high pregame: “It’s a good thing the game starts at midnight. Plenty of time to fix it.” -via Twitter @BrianTRobb / June 8, 2022