The Golden State Warriors dominated the NBA with the Steph Curry, Kevin Durant duo
Steph Curry and Kevin Durant were arguably the best duo of all-time during their run as teammates with the Golden State Warriors. While they played just three seasons together, Curry and Durant repeated as champions in 2017 and 2018.
Making the NBA Finals again in 2019, the Warriors fell to the Toronto Raptors largely because of injuries to Durant and Klay Thompson.
Joining a 73-9 Warriors team that eliminated his Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, Durant was sure to build the NBA’s most dominant team. While that is what happened, there was a bit of an adjustment period for Curry after being the unanimous NBA MVP in 2016.
During a recent episode of The Knuckleheads Podcast, three-time Warriors champion Shaun Livingston revealed an important conversation between Curry and Durant during that 2017 season which helped really elevate the team.
“After that Christmas game (in 2017), there was internal conversation amongst them two,” Livingston revealed. “[Durant said], ‘I need you to be Steph Curry.’ And then once Steph was like, ‘Alright, KD is good with us,’ it was unstoppable from then.”
Not wanting Curry to defer too much, Durant made it clear that he wanted the back-to-back MVP to be himself.
Warriors closed out Finals Game 5 for the title! (2017)
Durant: 39 PTS | 6 REB | 5 AST
Curry: 34 PTS | 10 AST | 6 REB
Iguodala: 20 PTS | 4 REB | 3 AST pic.twitter.com/ufZ4foabwf
— ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) May 18, 2024
Curry averaged 25.3 points that season, which was a step back from the 30.1 he led the NBA with the season prior, but he added another championship.