Getty Images When Kevin Durant came rushing back from a calf injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals in an effort to become the series’ game changer, two paths appeared. On one, he stayed healthy, and win or lose, would become the most desirable free agent in the league, making a decision that would impact the league for years. In the other, his body wasn’t ready, and he would jeopardize his career as well as the plans of all the franchises that lined up for his services. As even

Everything in the current NBA landscape comes back around to the Golden State Warriors. You see it everyday on Twitter. Paul George and Carmelo Anthony teamed up with Russell Westbrook? “Have fun losing to the Warriors in five!” James Harden is the clear front runner for MVP? “Lmaaaoooo Steph better.” Obviously, it’s for good reason. The Warriors are coming off a three-year run where they went 204-39 in the regular season and came within five points of three consecutive champ

The NBA is full of who is better than who debates. Best player, best scorer, best passer, the list goes on and on. Those debates will always rage on Twitter. To find out who is the best you need to break it down. You have to look at the numbers. The numbers can combine with the eye test to tell the real story. They can also disagree with the eye test. That's where it gets fun. Today the NBA is all about pick and rolls and pace and space. 3 point shooting is at a premium. That

Kyrie Irving has broken the Internet. Well, if not that then at least Twitter. Check out some of these absolute gems: And my personal favorites, some creations by my very own brother. The last time we saw a decision this polarizing, it was a mere twelve months ago when Kevin Durant decided to leave Oklahoma City. Durant’s decision itself wasn’t the shocking part, more so the team he chose to join. With Irving the surprise lies within the decision to actually leave. When was t

This is exactly what Kevin Durant was daydreaming about last July when he made the decision to move on from the Oklahoma City Thunder and join forces with Stephen Curry and the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. Almost a year later, Kevin Durant has the NBA world talking about him being the best scorer on the planet while guiding the Warriors to a 2-0 series lead. Unlike last year’s 2-0 series lead, the Warriors have given the Cleveland Cavaliers very little to hang their hat on hea

Don’t count Kevin Durant out of the post season. The 28-year-old All Star has been reportedly participating in shooting drills and is slated to don his uniform sooner rather than later. Since suffering a Grade 2 MCL sprain and a tibial bone bruise back in late February, the former Texas Longhorn could return to the hardwood before the playoffs. Warriors beat writer Anthony Slater seemed confident that number 35 would be back in a Warriors uniform within days, “Warriors don’t

The Golden State Warriors are sending four players to the All-Star Game this year (and it could have been five had ex-Soviet Georgia gotten its way). Four teammates representing is a lot, but not entirely unprecedented. The mark has been reached seven other times in NBA history, with three teams also sending two starters. This puts Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson into pretty elite, popular, and respected company — but not necessarily the company

As of right now, Stephen Curry is averaging 24.2 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game. That is a huge drop from his MVP season last year where he averaged 30.1 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game while belonging to the 50-40-90 club for the first time, particularly in points. While that seems like a huge difference, the most glaring stat is the shot attempts. Last season Curry averaged 20.2 shot attempts and now he is getting 16.8 shots up per game. It’s

Just about every advanced metric shows that Kevin Durant should be leading this year’s MVP race. The leading scorer on a team with the league’s best record, Kevin Durant also leads the league in Win Shares and True Shooting, and is second only to Anthony Davis in Player Efficiency Rating. He boasts season averages of 27 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, and has absolutely demoralized any defender faced with the grave challenge of defending him on a given night. So why isn’t D

Here we go. The first of four matchups between Russell Westbrook and Oakland's Superteam. Your classic David vs a team of Goliaths. All the pressure this year will be on Kevin Durant and the rest of the Warriors. Westbrook is playing with house money this year. Nothing to lose for him. But he is also playing at a rate that we haven't seen in a while. This tension and drama has been building since the final whistle blew on the Western Conference Finals. KD deciding to end his

The OTG staff gives you their top 5 NBA Small Forwards! Tweet us your thoughts @otgbasketball #NBA #SmallForwards #LeBronJames #Kawhi #KD #PG #Melo

With the start of the regular season looming, Oklahoma City Thunder fans are left wondering who can we count on now? With the departure of 29-year old franchise player Kevin Durant, many in Oklahoma City are still in disbelief that the seven time NBA All-Star jumped ship and headed to the Bay Area to join forces with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Hopes for a championship rested squarely on the shoulders of Durant who had previously been a consistent contrib

Golden State Warriors: Since hiring Steve Kerr two seasons ago, the Warriors have gone 140-24 in the regular season, reached the finals twice, and won the 2014-15 NBA Championship. Like any team coming off a season in which they had the best record in NBA history (73-9), the dubs clearly needed an upgrade. Call it luck or great timing, but all of the pieces fell into place for Kevin Durant to join the Warriors. Durant’s Thunder choked in the Western Conference Finals by losin

It is always fun to imagine our favorite athletes playing another sport and wondering how they would do. Who hasn’t wanted to see LeBron James strap up some football pads, or see if Alex Rodriguez is as good at football and basketball as people claim? Well I decided to go ahead and come up with a NFL offense consisting of NBA stars. Quarterback- John Wall, Washington Wizards (6’4”, 195 pounds): Wall has everything you look for when you are searching for a quarterback in a NBA

*Photo via Sporting News Should I stay or should I go? That’s the question every Hall of Fame worthy star asks himself at some point in his career in the league. Now to be fair,the answer depends largely on the team you were drafted to and the overall potential to win a championship. At the end of the day, professional basketball is a business first and entertainment second, so each team views players as small puzzle pieces; get the right pieces to fit together and you’ve bui

*Photo via USA EXTRA Over the last 5 years, everything had to go exactly wrong for Kevin Durant to defect from the OKC Thunder for Golden State. They lost the 2012 NBA Finals, then James Harden was traded, then injuries set in. Despite making 4 of the last 6 Western Conference Finals, Durant’s time to be a free agent came, and he made a decision that will send ripples throughout the league and the Oklahoma City franchise for years to come. First off, let me start by saying th

*Photo via Getty Images In a move that will be remembered in infamy in Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant decided to leave the only NBA team he has ever played for. Durant announced through The Players’ Tribune that he will sign with the Golden State Warriors, agreeing to a 2-year/$54.3M deal, the second year is a player option. It isn’t just the fact that Durant left the Thunder after nine seasons, including one in Seattle with the Supersonics; it is the team he left them for. T