Kevin Durant
Photo: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images

There is no doubt that Kevin Durant is an all-time great.

The most gifted scorer in NBA history, his unfair scoring repertoire at near seven-foot helped him to cap off two NBA championships, two Finals MVPs, an MVP trophy and tons of scoring awards so far.

But amid all of these, basketball legend Charles Barkley tried to contest all of the honors stapled on Durant, calling the career of the future hall of famer as an “abject failure” for failing to lead his team as the primary head.

His colleague and fellow hoops icon, Shaquille O’Neal, expressed his agreement there, remarking that Durant is yet to “take it to the next level.”

If you go back and look at his career as a best player being the leader, all goes with that too. We were all there. We saw OKC up 3-1. One more game and when you’re the guy, all the pressure goes on you. A lot of people was talking about the bus driver. Chuck was absolutely right. He was not driving the bus in Golden State. You were on the bus. You were sitting up front.

So when guys like us go ‘Woah, woah, woah, woah’ and you win and we don’t respect it, don’t get mad at us. That’s how we feel. This is the attitude that Kevin Durant is gonna say, ‘Whoa, I got this many points and I got this and I got that.’ We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about you, the guy, and in championship moments, can you take it to that next level? We haven’t seen that yet.

Indeed, Durant only made his resumé loaded after joining the title-ready Golden State Warriors in 2016 offseason. Being alongside the likes of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, he truly had weapons to accompany him and taking that pressure off in the standpoint of winning.

It remains yet to be seen on how Durant will capitalize his chances in Brooklyn to prove critics wrong. Time is ticking, and the basketball world is keenly observing on how he can win one of his own soon this 2022-2023 season.