What a time to be alive.
Kevin Durant, an NBA MVP and superstar, decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join Steph Curry, a two-time NBA and superstar, and the rest of the Golden State Warriors. It was a decision that many people did not see coming — at least not this year — and definitely not with that team.
As a whole, NBA free agency has been crazy. Money is being thrown around like candy at a parade, and players are taking advantage of it. Mike Conley is now the highest paid player in the NBA. No, he’s never made an all-star team. So I ask, if you’ve got the chance to try and make it in the NFL OR in the NBA, why the hell would you want to play football?
Then we had Kevin Durant announce on The Players’ Tribune that he was leaving Oklahoma City after nine years there. As a parent might say to their disobedient child — I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. It’s disappointing we won’t get to see the Thunder try to get their revenge against the Warriors after being one game away from advancing to the NBA Finals. It’s disappointing that the league now has one “super team” in each conference and the competitive balance took a hit.
It also makes next season very interesting, because all eyes — and all the pressure — will be on the Golden State Warriors. Like it or not, they’re the new villains of the NBA. It’s easy to understand why he left, and easy to see why the Warriors will be a great fit, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed about it.
Seeing Dwyane Wade also deciding to leave his team, the Miami Heat, after a 13-year career and three NBA titles, was also disappointing. In a way, the writing was on the wall for it to happen, but it will still be difficult to watch him playing in a different uniform.
To help wrap our heads around the chaos of NBA free agency, Noah Coslov was kind enough to join the show as this week’s guest. Noah has held several different positions in sports broadcasting, including currently hosting a weekend radio show on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
We talk about how Noah broke into the sports broadcasting industry, how the money works in NBA free agency, why anyone would want to pick playing in the NFL over the NBA or MLB, which teams did well with free agency besides Golden State, if anyone saw the Kevin Durant exodus coming, if the decision is comparable to LeBron’s, what the decision means for Durant and his legacy, what it means for the league, is there any hope for the rest of the West, if this is the greatest starting lineup in NBA history, are the Warriors the new villains of the NBA, how much pressure will be on Golden State, if Oklahoma City can salvage anything from this situation, how Adam Silver feels about this and where you can find Noah on the airwaves.
You can follow Noah on Twitter here. The interview begins a little after the 13:00 mark.
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Show music: ‘Actionable’ and ‘Epic,’ courtesy of www.bensound.com.
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