{"id":841909,"date":"2026-08-02T06:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/841909\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T06:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:48:16","slug":"kevin-durant-compares-philadelphia-76ers-star-power-to-his-golden-state-warriors-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/841909\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant compares Philadelphia 76ers’ star power to his Golden State Warriors teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

LADERA RANCH, Calif. — Houston Rockets<\/a> forward Kevin Durant<\/a> said Saturday that LeBron James<\/a> and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> have the offensive firepower to compete for the 2027 NBA championship.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Durant evoked his two Golden State Warriors<\/a> championship teams, which also featured Stephen Curry<\/a> and Klay Thompson<\/a>, when praising the combined scoring prowess of Philadelphia\u2019s James, Jaylen Brown<\/a>, Joel Embiid<\/a> and Tyrese Maxey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time they put three 20-point scorers on a team, they said it was unfair, which was the [Warriors] team I was on,\u201d Durant said at a USA Basketball event Saturday. \u201c[The 76ers] have got four 25-point scorers on this team. So, hell yeah, I think they\u2019re going to be a contender. They\u2019re going to be a fun team to watch. It\u2019s going to be League Pass-worthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown, Embiid and Maxey all averaged at least 25 points per game last season. James has averaged 25 points per game or more in 20 of his 23 seasons, most recently for the 2023-24 Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James, 41, announced on July 24 that he would join the 76ers rather than the Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> or Miami Heat<\/a> after weighing his latest free agency move for more than three weeks. While Durant, 37, said he had no advance notice about the decision, he believes the growing buzz around the 76ers is \u201conly going to help\u201d grow interest in the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know at all,\u201d Durant said. \u201cLeBron is stealth like that. I know there\u2019s a lot of noise around him, but you never know what\u2019s on his mind. I\u2019m happy for him. It\u2019s a great decision for him to go to a team that has a good chance to win. Philly is a great fanbase, a great market, and it\u2019s great for the league. There were so many eyes that were tuned in to his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

After acquiring Brown from the Boston Celtics<\/a> in a trade and adding James on a two-year, $8 million contract, oddsmakers now view the 76ers as one of the leading title contenders, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> and San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia is seeking its first championship since 1983, and James is vying to become the first player in NBA history to win a championship with four different franchises.<\/p>\n

Durant, who spoke at a USA Basketball Foundation charity event in Southern California, also said he wants to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The 2014 NBA MVP, who would be 39 years old during the upcoming competition, could become the first men\u2019s basketball player to win five Olympic gold medals if the Americans can win the men\u2019s tournament for the sixth straight time.<\/p>\n

Durant and James won gold medals as teammates in the 2012 London and 2024 Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really on [USA Basketball managing director] Grant Hill and what Team USA wants to do,\u201d Durant said. \u201cI stay on top of my game and hopefully I get that call, but there\u2019s so many great players who deserve to be on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LADERA RANCH, Calif. — Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant said Saturday that LeBron James and the new-look Philadelphia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,77896,191490,459,144379,82],"class_list":["post-841909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golden-state-warriors-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-9","tag-kevin-durant-sports-basketball-player-player-statscom-329525","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia-76ers-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-20","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}