Kevin Durant is like the staple for this.

Jayson Tatum was the best and most consistent player on the championship Celtics team in 24, but because Jaylen Brown had more memorable moments and there was a narrative about him single-handedly stopping Luka, Tatum’s rep took a hit as though he didn’t show up in big games.

I’ve never seen a b2b MVP, top 3 player get ridiculed and made fun of/the butt of jokes this much before. It’s actually insane. The only other player I can think of is Westbrick when he was chasing triple doubles at all cost and funny enough he played for OKC too lol

Tatum when Brown got FMVP over him. I still think Tatum should’ve won it over JB. Steph had the same blemish on his record until he finally got the FMVP against us, though Steph should’ve won over Iguodala.

Voters said they rewarded Iggy for shutting down LeBron (who averaged 36/13/9) in a similar way to how they said JB shut down Luka (averaged 29/9/6). I thought Tatum preventing the lobs from happening was a bugger deal. Both JT and Steph had to deal with the defensive gameplan being designed to stop them and both put up better counting stats than the guy who won the award.

Tatum also took a major hit that summer when he won Gold because Kerr doesn’t know how to manage a rotation. Having each of Tatum, LeBron and KD play ~27 min a game at the ³⁄₄ covers those positions the entire game while also getting your 3 best guys on the court. Remember, Tatum was 1st team NBA that year and was the 2nd best player on the prior Olympic team before Kerr absolutely desteoyed JTs rhythm/confidence that summer.

Most of the credit goes to the star regardless of the actual impact they had. If they win it’s good for them, if they lose it’s bad. I really don’t think stars lose legacy for playing bad in a win (as long as if it’s the finals or conference finals they win the mvp over their teammates, because those are what people remember is accolade counting), and if it does happen it is a huge outlier

Ant had people giving him positive press for beating the nuggets this year and averaged 18.5/7/3 on 48.5% TS (36/26/86 splits) in 30 mpg over 4 games (-8 net rtg, -12.5 on off). He didn’t even play the last 2 because of injury, but somehow that series backs him as being a “superstar slayer” for beating jokic again.

Donovan Mitchell finally got to the conference finals yet the perception of him is much lower than seemingly ever.

but KD is the guy i’ve thought of for a while.

Shai is suffering mainly because when Wemby is good, he’s so so much better than Shai that he makes Shai look a lot worse than he is in comparison. Wemby has looked bad too in some games, but when he’s good he’s easily the best overall player this year.

If this were any other series, I really don’t think that we would be having anti-Shai conversations. People would acknowledge his struggles but wouldn’t be questioning his MVP status or overall legacy.

If OKC wins, outside of another shitty game from Shai, I definitely won’t be questioning his legacy.

We don’t need to constantly overreact to every single game, series, etc. Like what is the obsession with this shit

All these reddit threads and redonk takes are not going to feature one single solitary iota when it comes to SGA’s legacy.

This is just a great question.

I’m sorry I can’t contribute anything off the top of my head. Maybe teams winning a series with one of their stars being injured?

can someone please explain to me how SGA is the betting odds favorite to win the western conference fmvp award with the series he’s had

People tried doing this to Kobe after the 2010 championship. There were a lot of people online saying Pau deserved the FMVP after game 7. It didn’t gain much traction because it was an idiotic take but you can still find people pushing that agenda online.

not totally a fit, but when Boston won in 08, most fans were celebrating KG finally getting to play with a good roster and that they instantly won it all on their very first try (so many minnesota fans were sharing in the title from afar and saying ‘i told you so’).

The FMVP going to Pierce was a nothing burger at the time, everybody knew KG was the best player and leader on that team, but Pierce was the only celtics guy still there from all those rough years and playing opposite Kobe made a great story

but meow you have little ones acting like KG was jumping ship and being carried by these other dudes that were well below his level. dude was 1a/1b with Duncan their entire primes and meow people just look at resumés and act like that is all there is to playing basketball

People give Jayson Tatum shit for loving Kobe, imagine how they felt when he was one vote shy of winning Finals MVP

It would have to be a star who was getting outplayed by another star before his opponent got injured or something. I can’t think of any offhand

KD

Kevin Durant won two rings people don’t give him credit for. But if he never won they would say he never won

he is not winning this, haven’t you heard no player has ever lost a nba series game 7 on their birthday and tomorrow is Harrison Barnes’s birthday

I don’t care for the flopping talk, but his inefficiency and the lack of creativity in his scoring process have been pretty damning

His rep is not taking a hit if they win the series lmao

Different sport and not a player, but I feel Joe Maddon’s rep declined after managing the Cubs to WIN the World Series. Before that series, he was viewed as a motivational and tactical genius. However, his mismanagement of pitcher selection extended what should have been a comfortable 6-game series win for the Cubs to a stressful 7-game extra inning nailbiter series win. I think his prior tactical genius rep was a bit overinflated but the mistakes on such a big stage shattered that image with everyone watching

I think with SGA people started hating him last year as well. His style is maddening. As a small market team he wasn’t seen as much , then when people saw how he collects his efficient points they were not impressed.

Kevin Durant can never win anything ever again. Ridiculous right? 

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Tatum in their championship season.

Kinda LeBron? If he’d missed the playoffs or gone out before the Finals more often he wouldn’t be dinged for his losing record in the Finals, when him going nuclear was the only reason some of those outclassed teams even made it.

I think the whole flopping thing has gotten a LITTLE out of hand and a LITTLE over the top. However, I still hate the guy on principle, so having people chant FLOPPER every time he has the ball and having to literally send a C&D to a gambling joint for using his name and likeness in a parody board game is HILARIOUS.

Harden when we beat the Clippers after Josh Smirh and Corey Brewer went nuts in game 6

IIRC people were clowning on Luka for getting blown by so much after the Thunder series when he took the Mavs to the finals.

The bubble Rockets/Thunder series was a bad look for Harden and Westbrook, being taken to seven by a “washed” CP3 (he wasn’t washed), Dort, and SGA

Harden has that famous picture with the towel over his head while his team was storming back and winning while on the brink of elimination.

I don’t like SGA, but I’ll tell you this: winning matters more.

Not sure if it quite fits, but i’ve seen enough people bring up Kobe’s ⁶⁄₂₄ in the 2010 game 7, say Gasol carried him.

That’s despite Kobe having a good series until game 6 and still helping on game 7 despite struggles.

Shai is unique that his whole reputation seems to be in question.

I feel like Harden was looked down on this year. His defense was always questioned but coaches public ally mentioning it this year is a bad look. 

In 2020 Dwight Howard finally wins a championship with the Lakers. He goes on Instagram live and give an emotional plea for his fans to never give up on their dreams.

Shaquille O’Neal immediately attacks him for bragging about winning a championship that “he had nothing to do with.”

A year later the NBA 75th Anniversary Team is selected. The team includes Anthony Davis who was an 8x All-Star, 4x All-NBA First-Team, 2x All-Defensive First-Team player who played a larger role in that championship run. It did not include Dwight Howard who is an 8x All-Star, 5x All-NBA First-Team, 3x Defensive Player of the Year who once took his team to the NBA Finals as the first option in addition to winning the championship as a bench player years later.

The NBA destroyed his legacy for literally no reason. I believe him winning the bubble ring rubbed people the wrong way.

In 20 years, no one will care. They will just see his MVPs and championships.

Reddit is now saying Ant is better than SGA for crying ouy loud…. Waiting on JBrown x SGA threads

Harden after 2015 vs the clippers

KD

SGA is the 3rd best player on the Thunder - Brothers and Foster are the real MVPs

The whole Cavs after beating us in Game 7

James Harden took a hit when his Rockets made a crazy 4th quarter comeback with him on the bench in the ‘Josh Smith game’; coach had thrown in the towel on the series, pulled the starters, and the bench mob came back to win the game and eventually the series (think it happened in game 6)

KD and Tatum immediately come to mind. I’m sure there are others

There was awhile where Kobe going 6 of 24 in a game 7 win was a meme.

Legacy is overrated. Who gives a fuck.

I honestly think the “decline” in SGA’s perception is just amongst r/nba which to be fair is basically just people who hate OKC. Amongst media, players, and coaches I think they all still think very highly of him as either the 1st or 2nd best player in the nba. I don’t see that changing no matter what happens in this series tbh

Temporary harden he was already suspected of being a playoff choker then he got benched in a Josh Smith led comeback win

Curry in 2018 and Tatum in 2024. Mainly because they lost the FMVPs, but there was more slander for them than the players who lost