Kevin Durant is making waves this week after a bold declaration. He claimed that LeBron James joining the Philadelphia 76ers is comparable to his joining the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
The always outspoken Stephen A. Smith was shocked by this claim and shared his thoughts on ESPN’s “First Take.”
Stephen A. Smith Shuts Down Kevin Durant’s LeBron James Comparison
Smith started by noting that Durant may not be serious.
“He had a smile on his face and was probably joking around a little bit,” Smith said, while adding that his claim is “ridiculous.”
“[The Golden State Warriors] were clear-cut favorites by a mile to win the championship. We don’t even know if the Philadelphia 76ers are going to come out of the East.”@stephenasmith weighs in on Kevin Durant comparing LeBron’s move to the 76ers to his Warriors tenure 👀 pic.twitter.com/eBB0dkDeuQ
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 3, 2026
Smith then explained why the two situations aren’t comparable.
“There was no competition,” Smith said. “We all knew it was a foregone conclusion that Kevin Durant, with the greatest shooting backcourt and the basketball savant that was Draymond Green, it was inevitable. The fairness, competition, it was just eviscerated. Nobody had a chance.”
Smith said this to remind Durant and NBA fans just how dominant the Warriors were once Durant joined the team. The team had just come off a 73-9 record and fell in the final minutes of Game 7 of the NBA Finals to James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.
Going 73-9 and adding Durant at his peak does not seem comparable to the 76ers winning 45 games last season and adding a 41-year-old James.
“Joel Embiid, when he is healthy, he hasn’t been in the Eastern Conference Finals,” Smith said. He went on to say, “I got news for you, they ain’t the favorites to win the championship.”
That is a sharp contrast from the 2016-17 Warriors, who steamrolled their way to a championship and did so again in 2017-18. As Smith said, they were simply inevitable during Durant’s time in the Bay.
“You can make a legitimate argument that right now, that the Philadelphia 76ers, in some people’s eyes, are the third- or the fourth-best team in the NBA,” Smith continued. “Nobody said that when Kevin Durant arrived in Golden State.”
Durant may have been joking when he made his comparison, as Smith said. But it was still fair to share the facts for anyone who may have blindly trusted Durant’s claim.
Durant joined the Warriors a decade ago at the peak of his powers and helped them destroy the Cavaliers in the Finals in back-to-back years. LeBron’s situation is a bit different, as he is joining the 76ers in the twilight of his career. The addition of Jaylen Brown is arguably more monumental than James’ signing as well.
There is a possibility that James will continue his legacy and win a title in a fourth city. If he does, it will come as much more of a surprise than when Durant and the Warriors formed the ultimate superteam back in the summer of 2016.
