National Basketball Association

Kevin Durant explains why the Warriors are no 'superteam'

Published Jun. 15, 2017 2:37 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

NBA fans knew all season that two "super-teams" were going to meet in the NBA Finals, but after they did no one on those teams seems to want to own that ‘super’ monicker.

Cleveland’s LeBron James said he wasn’t part of a super-team after Monday’s series-clinching Game 5 loss, and Kevin Durant had the same attitude when asked Wednesday about his Golden State Warriors – who were super enough with Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to beat the Cavs’ LeBron-Kyrie Irving-Kevin Love trio.

Durant would prefer you think of the Warriors team he joined last summer as a loveable band of misfits and castoffs:

"First of all, if everybody wanted Steph, he would have been the No. 1 pick. A lot of people passed on him. A lot of people doubted Steph, saying he wasn't going to be this good. Klay Thompson, he was just supposed to be this OK shooter in the league, like that's what you thought of Klay Thompson when he came in. Draymond, nobody wanted him. He was a 6-5 power forward. [They said] he couldn't play in the league, he couldn't start in the NBA. Shaun Livingston had a crazy knee injury.

"Nobody wanted him. Nobody thought that he would get back to being Shaun Livingston. Andre Iguodala, he got traded a couple of times. Nobody wanted him. A lot of people didn't expect these guys to be where they are today. Superteam? No, we just work extremely well together. Coach puts us in position to maximize our strengths."