Kevin Durant compares LeBron joining 76ers to his move to the Warriors

Kevin Durant compares LeBron joining 76ers to his move to the Warriors

Economy World


Kevin Durant knows a thing or two about building super teams.

Remember when he was vilified for leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join a Golden State Warriors team that had just gone 73-9?  Or when he joined Kyrie Irving with the Brooklyn Nets, who traded for James Harden one season later?

Durant does.

And the now-Houston Rockets forward sees similarities in LeBron James joining a Philadelphia 76ers team already loaded with All-NBA talent in Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.

Speaking at a USA Basketball Foundation charity event in Southern California on Saturday, Durant was asked whether he believes James and the 76ers are now legitimate title contenders.

“For sure,” Durant responded incredulously. “You don’t think so? Last time they put three 20-point scorers on a team, they said it was unfair, which was the team I was on. (The 76ers) have got four 25-point scorers on this team. So, hell yeah, I think they’re going to be a contender.

“They’re going to be a fun team to watch. It’s going to be League Pass-worthy, TNT-worthy, man. … I can’t wait to see it.”

James (20.9 points per game last season), Brown (28.7), Maxey (28.3) and Embiid (26.9) form a quartet of elite scorers in the City of Brotherly Love. That’s before factoring in guard VJ Edgecombe, who averaged 16.0 points as a rookie in 2025-26.

When Durant signed with Golden State before the 2016-17 season, he brought his 28.2 points per game from 2015-16 to a roster that already featured back-to-back league MVP Stephen Curry (30.1) and Klay Thompson (22.1). The record-setting Warriors were only a few months removed from erasing a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate Durant’s Thunder in the Western Conference finals. Durant then won the next two championships with Golden State, but missed out on a third after tearing an Achilles tendon in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.

That summer, Durant chose the Nets in free agency alongside Irving and sat out a season to recover from his Achilles injury. Durant made his Nets debut in December 2020, then the team traded for 2018 MVP Harden the very next month.

Harden poured in 24.6 a night for the Nets that season, while Irving and Durant averaged 26.9 points each. Injuries limited all three players to 54 games or fewer for Brooklyn that season, and they ended up playing together in only 16 games before Harden was traded to Philadelphia in February 2022.

On Saturday, Durant didn’t clarify whether “the team I was on” was Brooklyn or Golden State. Both teams featured three 20-plus-point scorers.

James left the Los Angeles Lakers to join a similarly star-studded roster in pursuit of another championship — except at the ripe age of 41.

As first reported by The Athletic and later confirmed by Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul on his podcast “Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul,” the 76ers’ trade of Paul George and draft picks to the Boston Celtics for Brown is what sparked James’ interest in heading to Philly.

Durant, despite the criticism he faced after his move to Golden State, expressed no issue with James assembling another Eastern Conference powerhouse.

“Happy for him,” Durant said. “It’s a great decision for him to go to a team that got a good chance to win. Philly, a great fanbase, great market.”

Durant appeared in just one game during the Rockets’ six-game first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last season due to a bruised right knee and sprained left ankle. James, with co-star Luka Dončić out with an injury and Austin Reaves unavailable for much of the series, led the Lakers past Houston with averages of 23.2 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds. But with Dončić still unavailable in the next round, the Lakers lost to the Thunder in a sweep.

Now, James is headed east, with the four-time MVP clearly stating on social media that his goal is winning a fifth championship.

“It’s great for the league,” Durant said. “So many eyes that tuned into his decision; it was only going to help us as a league.”