After watching Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors destroy the Cleveland Cavaliers during the NBA Finals earlier this month, it doesn't sound like Myles Garrett came away very impressed.
As far as Garrett's concerned, the only reason the Warriors won the title this year is because they have Durant and the only reason they have Durant is because the former Oklahoma City star decided to "take the easy way out" and sign with the Warriors back in July 2016.
"You hopped onto a 73-9 team and he took the easy way out in my mind," Garrett during an interview on Thursday with 92.3 the Fan in Cleveland. "It's different when LeBron [James] left [Cleveland]. He went to [Miami to join] Wade and Bosh but it wasn't something that was already guaranteed, something you already knew was going to have immediate success. [James] had to gel and work things into place."
According to Garrett, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Durant has ruined the NBA.
"KD broke the league," Garrett said. "With KD, you just stick him in and he scores. You already knew what they had. They were 73-9 before and you put the second-best player in the world on an already all-time great team and of course you're going to have success, pretty easy success. Anyone can have an off night and they can still find a way to win."
Despite the fact that his team went 0-16 last season, Garrett said he would never sign with another team just to ride their "coattails" to a championship, insinuating that's what Durant did with Golden State.
"If I were him I would've never made a move like that in the first place," Garrett said. "Me, I'm too competitive to try and ride on somebody's coattails to get a W."
The bad news for the rest of the NBA is that Durant is likely going to re-sign with the Warriors this summer. Not only has he publicly said that, but Warriors general manager Bob Myers has already said the team will give Durant "whatever he wants" to get him under contract.
This time around, Garrett says it actually makes sense for Durant to sign a deal with Golden State.
"For him, you might as well stay at the spot you're at now," Garrett said. "There's no point in leaving since you've already taken that moniker where he's been called the snake and cupcake and all that. You might as well stay and just keep on winning."
To summarize: Garrett thinks Durant has ruined the NBA, took the easy way out to a title and has been riding the Warriors' coattails, but also believes the Finals MVP should re-sign with Golden State to keep the super team intact.
Of course, Durant wasn't the first NBA player to join a super team. To prevent that from happening in the future, Garrett said the NBA needs to put an NFL-like salary cap in place.
"At the end of the day I'd rather see hard caps," Garrett said. "It focuses more on team play, being able to have chemistry instead of getting the big player and who's going to change the game. You can get a couple of guys like Boston, who didn't have their two star players and yet they went to the [conference] finals because they all gave a collective effort. Everybody pitched in and were almost successful."
Garrett's popularity in Cleveland was already high after a rookie season in 2017 where he tallied seven sacks and it's likely only going to get higher now that he's gone on the record and ripped the team that's been torturing the Cavs in three of the past four NBA Finals.
