Why KD doesn’t expect Warriors, NBA teams to honor him with statue

Why KD doesn’t expect Warriors, NBA teams to honor him with statue originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Kevin Durant isn’t expecting a statue outside Chase Center anytime soon.

In fact, he doesn’t anticipate any of his current or former NBA teams honoring him with a statue.

Durant appeared on Wednesday’s episode of the “Up & Adams Show,” where he shared with Kay Adams why he doesn’t believe he’s worthy of a statue outside of the arenas in Oklahoma City, Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix, the four current teams Durant has played for.

“I highly highly doubt I get a statue of me put anywhere for playing basketball,” Durant said. “I appreciate the love, though and the respect people showed me. That’s enough for me.

“… It’s usually those guys that got the Hall of Fame career with the championships and you’ve been with one city for a long time. That’s not the case for me, but I could see it for a couple other guys in the league.”

Durant spent nine seasons of his current 17-year NBA career with the Thunder (2008-2016) where he won the 2013-14 MVP award, but reached the highest of NBA mountaintops with the Warriors, winning two championships, including two NBA Finals MVP awards (2017, 2018) in only three seasons with Golden State.

Durant since has spent three-plus and two-plus seasons with both the Nets (2019-2023) and Suns (2023-current), without a championship appearance in either city.

Miami Heat legend Dwayne Wade, who recently was honored with a statue outside of Kaseya Center last week, believes Durant is one of three current players, including former Warriors teammate Steph Curry and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who are next in line for statues.

“The three stars in our game still,” Wade said of the likelihood Durant, Curry and James receive statues. “And there’s others that could be in that group, but when you talk about winning championships, you talk about changing the game, you talk about being just unique. It’s so many characteristics that go into getting a statue — it ain’t just being good.

“When you talk about your work away from basketball, what are you doing? How are you changing communities? I think these individuals are doing those things in so many different ways. And so that’s why those three guys came (to mind). It ain’t just because they get buckets.”

Durant, humbly and respectfully, disagrees.

“I [saw Wade’s comments] yesterday. I disagree with [him] but I appreciate him putting me in that category with two other guys who probably will get statues in cities that they played in,” Durant shared with Adams.

While many believe Durant realistically could have his jersey retired with both the Thunder and the Warriors at some point in the future, some have wondered if a statue commemorating the iconic photo of Golden State’s back-to-back championship-winning core, featuring him, Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala, could be a fitting tribute for a statue outside of Chase Center.

If so, then Durant will get a statue. Technically.

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