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The fate of last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals literally rested on Kevin Durant's toes. Had not an inch of his shoe stepped on the line, the Brooklyn Nets could have advanced to the next round of the playoffs. Without Kyrie Irving and playing with a compromised James Harden, the Nets relied on Durant’s brilliant performance to push the Milwaukee Bucks in a Game 7 for the ages.
Questions about how he would recover from a devastating injury that probably cost the Golden State Warriors another championship should be laid to rest. Kevin Durant is back. His spectacular 2020-21 campaign should serve notice that the Slim Reaper is out to complete some unfinished business in the coming NBA season.
After that disappointing playoff loss, Durant put on his Team USA jersey and led the Americans to another gold medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games. It’s safe to say that the US Men’s National Basketball team needed every bit of Durant’s unmatched skills to clinch gold.
The impressive form he displayed after returning from a ruptured Achilles tendon made him the presumptive favorite to win the NBA MVP of the 2021-22 season.
How can Kevin Durant justify the unofficial tag of being the best in the world?
#3 Durant has to remain healthy
Health will always be the critical factor in Kevin Durant’s quest for greatness. After being out for 18 months the season before, the Brooklyn Nets took a careful approach and monitored KD's minutes. There were some back-to-back games where he did not play. Load management was very evident last year as Durant was trying to round out to form.
The 2021-22 NBA season could be more of the same. With the NBA back on an 82-game schedule, the grind has to be kept to a minimum for Kevin Durant until at least the middle of the season. If there is a team that can give Durant games off and on minutes’ restriction, it would have to be the Nets. The presence of James Harden and Kyrie Irving is going to keep Durant fresh and ready.
If Durant stays healthy, there is no reason why he can’t be back to his devastating old form. There is just no stopping him from winning the NBA's top individual award.
#2 Kevin Durant must build on his chemistry with James Harden and Kyrie Irving
The Brooklyn Nets, with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving on the floor at the same time, scored a whopping 119.6 Offensive Rating. It is a figure that is not just good. It is ridiculously good. Despite the result being only a sample size of what they can do, there is optimism that those numbers will be even better once they get to share more time on the floor.
In 8 games with Irving and Harden, KD normed 28.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists. Harden has vowed to be more of a facilitator and averaged 11.9 assists in those said games. With those two on the floor, Durant would get the kind of looks he only enjoyed during his time with the Golden State Warriors.
He could easily be the best player on a potentially great team. If this trio is spared from injury woes, the best record in the league is almost guaranteed. In many cases, the MVP will come from the best regular-season team. The mantle of the best player in the world could officially be his and bag the MVP crown along the way.
#1 KD should affirm his status as the unquestioned leader of the Brooklyn Nets
The Nets rolled the dice with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but it never felt like Brooklyn is Irving’s team. The leadership did not change hands even when the Nets brought in James Harden. The last time Durant really had a team to call his own in the Oklahoma Thunder, he won an MVP and was a perennial contender.
In the playoff series against Milwaukee, the Bucks threw different looks and stout defenders at Durant like PJ Tucker and Jrue Holiday. KD could have succumbed to the pressure or fatigue and packed it in. But he played an insane amount of minutes to push a decimated Nets team almost past the eventual champions. These are the kind of games that teammates will recognize as true leadership.
Durant has the opportunity to take this Nets team by the scruff of its neck. More than just being an emotional leader, KD has the eye-popping skills and incredible will to win that teammates will see. The leader of potentially the best team in the NBA could sway voters to his side when the MVP ballots are handed out.
