Adam Silver backs Kevin Durant, NBA's 'competitive balance'

AJ Neuharth-Keusch | USA TODAY Sports

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Kevin Durant, who altered the NBA's landscape when he left Oklahoma City for Golden State last July, doesn't think the lack of league-wide parity is his fault, and commissioner Adam Silver agrees.

"I heard Kevin Durant say something like this the other day. I think it's, first of all, a little unfair to him to blame him for the lack of so-called competitive balance at the moment in the league," Silver said Wednesday on ESPN's Mike & Mike. "He could have only impacted one team. Had he stayed in Oklahoma City or gone somewhere else, there's no doubt that that team would have been better. But it wouldn't have changed the fortunes for 27 other teams in the league."

Durant, in an interview with USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick last week, expressed similar sentiments.

“Like I'm the reason why (expletive) Orlando couldn't make the playoffs for five, six years in a row?” he said. “Am I the reason that Brooklyn gave all their picks to Boston? Like, am I the reason that they're not that good (laughs)? I can't play for every team, so the truth of the matter is I left one team. It's one more team that you probably would've thought would've been a contender. One more team. I couldn't have made the (entire) East better. I couldn't have made everybody (else) in the West better.”

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These comments stem from the notion that Durant's decision to join forces with a Warriors team that had recently completed the winningest season in NBA history funneled too much talent into one place, making the league uncompetitive and predictable. Now that the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are gearing up for the first NBA Finals three-quel in league history, the criticism has only gotten louder.

Silver, who reiterated that part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement was designed to incentivize players to re-sign with their own teams, sees it differently.

"It's just hard for me to fathom how there becomes this perception that at the moment there are only two teams that are truly competitive in this league. I just don't believe it," Silver said. "I think you're going to see these things have a way of working themselves out over time. Kawhi Leonard was the 15th pick in the draft, Isaiah Thomas was the 60th pick in the draft, Draymond Green was the 35th pick in the draft. And we have a great draft class coming up next year.

"When I hear people say that (Golden State and Cleveland) are now the two teams that are dynasties. Think back ... we had the Lakers and Celtics. Celtics have won 17 championships, Lakers 16. That's almost half of all championships won in the NBA by those two teams. Now these two teams are being called dynasties. One, you're in Cleveland right now, that franchise before last year had never won in the history of the NBA. Golden State hadn't won it in 40 years."

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