I hear y'all man, y'all think they needed KD to win rings, when all the data and analytics showed as long as Draymond green wasn't doing dumb shit, that their core of Barnes, Iggy, Green, Curry, and Thompson was enough man. To play the what ifs and we don't know the future game is greatly ignoring probabilities of what them boys were building.
And we acting like not having one of the best 3 and D players ever, the greatest shooter ever, and one of the most diverse defensive genius players ever a minor thing because KD is one of the greatest scorers ever. The argument you guys are making is vastly ignoring the scheming nightmares that this causes for opposing teams and coaches.
For example, you put the your best defender on KD on the Thunder and you chances to limit Westbrook to shooting a stupid jumper he will brick or some shit. You put your best defender on KD on the Warriors, and you a multitude of issues to deal with because he has the greatest shooting back court ever in his back pocket lol.
To say "KD help them get over the hump" is not telling the whole story at all. Like of course he did. And of course they did everything in their power to assimilate his game in their system. But to act like he wasn't a luxury and was "needed" is suuuuuuuuper crazy to me. It's just not true. Them niggas was going to be great without him and it's high-key disrespectful to what they were doing before he got there to think otherwise. Look at there scoring efficiency, how beautiful they passed the ball, the defense collectiveness, etc. It's a reason why KD wanted to be there but it's also a reason why he didn't have to go there for them to be great.