The Warriors are the first team to go 12-0 to reach the NBA Finals, and the Cavs went 13-1 before reaching the Finals for a 3rd straight time. The NBA has always lacked parity, but this year it is much more noticeable with how the Warriors and Cavs have dominated their respective conferences.
After the Warriors won game 3 against the Spurs, Durant was asked about postseason blow-outs hurting the game and he gave this response. “If you don’t like don’t watch it.”
Kevin Durant on the amount of blowouts this postseason: "If you don't like it, don't watch it." pic.twitter.com/WaqGEt93k5
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) May 21, 2017
Durant apologized for the tone of his response, but he doesn’t want to be seen as the reason why the NBA has a parity problem. He told Sam Amick from USA Today the following:
“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.”
Kevin Durant is 100% correct in his assessment. The NBA’s parity problem falls squarely on the shoulders of Adam Silver and the 30 owners that agreed to the collective bargain agreement. Free agency creates scenarios where players can sacrifice money to win now, if they choose to do that, and there is no real way to police it. Unless teams can franchise certain players, the balance of power can shift at a moments notice if a few players align together. Frankly, NBA teams that want to be competitive will need to do a better job drafting the right talent and choosing the right mix of players to remain competitive. And that takes real work.
