do they work harder than me?

 

 

 

Suns star Kevin Durant catches stray during Julius Erving’s scorching anti-super teams rant

Since LeBron James brought his talents to the Miami Heat in 2010 to form a big three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the notion of building superteams has been a bonҽ of controversy in NBA circles. There have been many successful celebrities after James. Who could forget when Kevin Durant, fresh off his 3-1 choke job against the Warriors, joined a team that had just won 73 games the year before? Julius Erving, a future Hall of Famer, undoubtedly does not.

In an interview with Joy De’Angela, Erving went off on the idea of superteams, taking aim squarely at the now-Phoenix Suns star.

Take a look at how many different places Durant has lived. […] The inmates are in charge, not the warden. It’s when the team’s best player says, “To hҽll with this town and all the love and support they’ve shown me; I’m packing up and moving to Florida or Los Angeles or Texas or wherever.” “They’re business decisions, I get it, but they haven’t helped the game,” Erving added. That is a scathing criticism of the player-empowerment era in the NBA, for sure. There was an emphasis on developing “the right way” in the league during Julius Erving’s era, with smart drafting and dealing seen as the pinnacle of success.

However, today’s multi-year contract superstars can blackmail their current teams into trading them by threatening to withhold their services or perform below par if they are not traded. After Damian Lillard requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers, the aforementioned scenario is playing out, despite the fαct that Kevin Durant didn’t really do any of that prior to his trade to the Suns.

The formation of superteams appears to be the surest approach to put oneself in the best position to win championships, considering the weight that critics typically attribute to such victories when assessing a career’s significance. Therefore, traditionalists like Julius Erving have no obligation to embrace the current state of basketball.