As I watch the Minnesota Timberwolves on the verge of sweeping the Phoenix Suns out of the playoffs today, I’m reminded of how difficult it is to win a championship even with a “superteam”.

Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal make for an electrifying Suns lineup. Booker (3), Beal (3), and Durant (13) have made a total of 19 All-Star appearances. KD is a previous MVP with four scoring titles, while Beal and Booker are two of the top scoring guards in the modern era.

So, with that big 3, how are they 0-3 in the first round vs Minnesota?

This, I believe, explains why the Golden State Warriors faced both understandable and assumptive criticism for signing KD in 2016. It seemed as if the basketball world effectively labeled the Celtics cheaters for stacking the deck by adding an MVP to a 73-win club. However, Durant’s post-Warriors experience demonstrates that it is not as simple as assembling an All-Star team and seeing the titles come in.

He did pair up with James Harden and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn for a brief and ultimately fruitless attempt to dominate the Eastern Conference.

“We just didn’t get on the court enough. I think wUnless the Suns become the first team in history to overcome a 3-0 hole to win a best-of-seven series, Durant will be 2-4 in six playoff series since departing the Golden State Warriors in 2019 — the time at which he began attempting to superteam his way to post-Stephen Curry recognition.

Individually, Durant has fared well. Regardless of the shock-jock hot takes, he never had anything to prove in that respect. He was fantastic before teaming up with Curry, and he is sensational now. However, the playoff losses are piling up because, even for a brilliant scorer like Durant, basketball becomes extremely difficult when played primarily alone. hen you see James, Kyrie and myself, it was amazing basketball for 17 games though,” Durant joked. “In order for you to win a championship and be a great team, you just need more time on the floor.”

The ‘Big 3,’ who all now play on different teams and forced their way out of Brooklyn, combined to play a total of only 16 games in just over a single year span. Outside of injuries to Durant and Harden, the main component of one of the biggest NBA’s ‘What If’s’ in league history was Irving’s vaccination refusal. His decision resulted in the now Dallas Mavericks guard playing in only 29 regular season games during the 2021-22 season.

And now that he’s in his second year in Phoenix, it’s evident that they lack the power to compete at the Western Conference’s best levels. That’s why it worked out for all parties (the Warriors won another title without KD, and Durant was able to exercise his personal autonomy by leaving), but the fact that a player as dominant as KD is still sitting on two rings will always be a fan’s “What If” about his departure.

“In my perspective, thinking about what could have been is a futile exercise. What happened. That’s what I reflected on: what truly happened. “The reality of it.”

“We did not have enough time together. That’s it,” he said. “The guys wanted to go their separate ways.” We did our best to salvage everything and everything together. We had three or four different teams from when I started here to when I left. But, at the end of the day, I enjoyed coming to work, playing for, being a part of, and representing Brooklyn; no matter what happened, what was said, or how I felt, I came to work.”