Bam Adebayo has made his stance on the NBA’s all-time conversation clear, and Kevin Durant is in it.
In a recent list of his top five players ever, Adebayo put Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, Durant and Tim Duncan in his personal rankings. That leaves out the usual headliners in the LeBron James-Michael Jordan debate and puts Durant squarely among the game’s giants in Adebayo’s eyes.
Durant’s place in that kind of company has always been tied to one thing: elite scoring. He can get buckets from just about anywhere, and he does it with the kind of efficiency and ease that has made him fit almost anywhere he’s played. Whether he’s working off the ball or creating his own shot, Durant has a way of bending a defense without forcing the issue.
That was true during his time with the Nets, too. Brooklyn could lean on his gravity to set the tone early, then turn to him when the offense needed a bailout.
The best example came in the 2021 playoffs against Milwaukee, when the Nets nearly knocked off the Bucks in the second round despite Kyrie Irving being out and James Harden playing on one leg. Durant delivered a near 50-point triple-double in Game 5, then followed it with another 48-point performance in Game 7 before his big toe spoiled what might have been a series-clinching shot.
His résumé already includes championship runs with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. He also reached the NBA Finals with Russell Westbrook and Harden. In Brooklyn, the idea was that he and Irving would build something lasting, stay there for much of the rest of their careers and win at least one title together.
That never happened. The league rarely gives star-laden teams the script they expect, and Brooklyn became another example of how quickly things can change once adversity shows up. Under different circumstances, the 7/11 era could have become a defining chapter in Nets history.
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For Nets fans, the idea is one they know well because Russell already has history here, including the midseason arrival in 2024-25 that briefly tied his career back to Brooklyn. Whether the conversation goes anywhere is another matter, but the fit is the kind of speculative, old-friend debate that tends to follow a player with roots in the building and a front office still weighing how to balance the present with what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
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For a team trying to turn offseason moves into something more tangible, the schedule matters almost as much as the roster. It shows when the first heavy stretch arrives, how soon the new-look group gets tested, and where the long road trips and home stands might shape the early rhythm of the year. Until then, the Nets can only prepare in broad strokes while waiting for the matchups that will tell the real story of how this season is likely to unfold. [Read more 🡒]