Kevin Durant Had Strong Thoughts on Stephen Curry in NBA Finals: Ex-Teammate

In the end, like so many "superteam" experiments from early in this decade, the Warriors' attempts to pull together a group of stars to establish a long-term dynasty came up short, as injuries torpedoed the team's chances in the 2019 Finals and the departure of an embittered Kevin Durant in free agency shortly thereafter set the group back considerably.

But before that fateful season, the Warriors appeared to have their dynastic intentions well-outfitted. The Dubs won a title in 2017, Durant's first season in the Bay Area, and bounced back to reach the Finals again in 2018, facing the Cavaliers for the fourth consecutive time.

At that point, the team's two championship runs were capped by Finals MVP votes that saw Andre Iguodala nose out star Stephen Curry in 2015, and saw Durant win it in 2017. Curry, for all his star power and championship trophies, had not won a Finals MVP, and in the spirit of tearing down all good things, the media roundly criticized him for it.

Durant, it turns out, did not like that much.

Kevin Durant Sought 2018 Finals MVP for Stephen Curry

According to popular reserve guard Quinn Cook, who was with the Warriors from 2017-19, Durant had made it a mission of the team to get Curry a Finals MVP.

All throughout the 2017-18 season, Durant let his teammates know that was the goal. But then in the Finals, Durant went out and averaged 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists, while Curry had some shooting struggles (27.5 points on 40.2% shooting).

Despite not wanting it, Durant won a second straight Finals MVP.

Cook explained (via NBC Sports Bay Area): "Kevin wanted Steph to get that Finals MVP the next year so bad. That's all he was talking about all season, like I can't wait until Steph gets his Finals MVP so he can shut up everybody, the naysayers.

"But I think in Game 2 [of the Finals], that's when Steph broke the record, he had nine 3s. And then Game 3, we were struggling, Steph was struggling, and Kevin just accidentally walked into 40 [points]. And then you just look at the numbers statistically, I think Kevin had a triple-double in Game 4. He wasn't even as aggressive; that's just how good he is. He just accidentally got the Finals MVP back-to-back."

The happy epitaph to all this, though: When the Warriors bounced back and won the Finals in 2022, Curry averaged 31.2 points with 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists.