Two of the best players in the NBA today if you asked for honest answers would be Warriors Finals MVP Kevin Durant and Cavaliers star LeBron James.
The All-Stars spent summers working out together, played against each other in multiple NBA Finals, and were even teammates playing for the USA in Olympic Tournaments.
James is nearly four years older than Durant and has two more rings as well, but Durant's lone championship came at the expense of James. One of his defining moments of the Finals was hitting a game-winning three-pointer over James to seal a win which he refers to as the best moment of his life.
During his interview with GQ Durant reveals to Zach Baron that the shot meant so much because of his respect for James.
That was the best moment I ever had. I made the game-winning shot in the finals against my f—ing idol. Somebody that I really, really, really followed since I was a ninth-grade high schooler. I felt like he was passing the torch to me.
Durant watched James as a high school senior on nationally televised ESPN games during his freshman year in high school. At the time James was pegged as The Chosen One and slated to soon be the face of the NBA, including receiving a $90 million deal with Nike concluding his senior year, which at the time was unheard of for an athlete.
If there is any team that can keep James from obtaining another championship in today's NBA, it would be the Warriors, and the one player talented enough to match his talent would be Durant. If there is any torch passed, it would be a player on James' level and take the torch into the next generation after he retires.
One thing is for sure, as much as Durant looks up to his NBA counterpart, James respects his former USA teammate as well.
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