Mats Hummels and Kevin Durant; Pioneers for the Easy Route
The moves of Mats Hummels and Kevin Durant are broken down and dissected as we see if and why they have taken the easy route.
Kevin Durant to Golden State
The summer of 2016 will forever be a memorable one for sports fans around the world. Kevin Durant shocked the NBA by choosing to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign for direct competitors in the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors.
The team who set the NBA record for most wins in one season, winning 73 of 82 games. In other words, one of the greatest scorers of all time just decided to join the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history comprised of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Alongside the current NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green, the Warriors are now possibly the greatest team ever assembled.
Kevin Durant won himself an NBA ring the moment he put pen to paper signing his Warriors contract. Surely nine months later, the Warriors were crowned kings of the NBA, easily dismantling LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 5 games.
Mats Hummels to Bayern
Now let’s jump back across the water to Germany and the Bundesliga. The Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels decided to make the now familiar move to direct competitors Bayern Munich. However, Hummels is a youth product of Bayern, so this was viewed largely as a ‘homecoming’ to him.
This move to Bavaria came as a huge blow to Dortmund supporters, who were ever so close to breaking the monopoly in the Bundesliga that Bayern had created.
They had an inspiring young manager who led Dortmund to the highest second place finish in Bundesliga history. They also ended the season scoring more goals than any other team in Germany. However, this was not enough to keep Dortmund’s captain faithful to his team. He jumped ship for the German juggernauts, helping them to their fifth consecutive Bundesliga title.
Comparison
Kevin Durant traded his friendship with Russell Westbrook for a Warriors jersey. Mats Hummels traded his captain’s armband for a Bayern jersey.
Both athletes traded their pride and loyalty for a championship. But at what price did they have to pay? What happened to the days of sticking to your guns and fighting it out? When it’s all said and done, how will the sports world remember them? Sure, they are champions again, but not for the city and people that made them who they are. Now they are villains in the stadium they were once heroes in.
Like a professional wrestler turned heel. Except this isn’t a scripted fiction, this is the real world, and no mountain of success will climb you high enough to escape the lashes of criticism.
Kevin Durant Criticism
To be fair to Kevin Durant, he has received his fare share of backlash for his move to the Bay Area. ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith went and said, “It was the weakest move I have ever seen from a superstar“. Its hard to deny this statement.
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Durant is undeniably a once in a lifetime talent and a freak of nature. He is almost 7 feet tall, with a wingspan of about 7 feet 5 inches. He has physical capacities of a center, but can play any position on the floor. Not to mention he is a marksman from the three point line, making him practically impossible to guard.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that his move to the Warriors caused many NBA fans to be upset. After all, his previous team, the Oklahoma City Thunder were so close to beating the Warriors in the 2015-2016 NBA Playoffs. Had they not blown a 3-1 lead in the series, the Thunder would have advanced to the NBA Finals.
To this day, Kevin Durant still receives a massive backlash for his move to the Warriors, even NFL legend Peyton Manning gave Durant criticism. While hosting the ESPY’s, an American sports awards ceremony, he took a shot at Durant for the world to see, saying “Our gymnastics team was so dominant that Kevin Durant told me he wants to play for them next year“.
The camera then showed Kevin Durant on screen after the joke, and he was clearly not pleased. Most likely upset that he is still has to listen to criticism. Even after winning the 2017 NBA Finals MVP Award, deservedly so. However, it seems that Kevin is finding that no matter how great he plays, he will never escape the backlash of his move to the Warriors.
Mats Hummels Criticism
Mats Hummels is a world class player, perhaps not on the same caliber as Durant, but world class nonetheless. Dortmund fans for many years enjoyed watching him on a regular basis. Hummels possesses the ability to play perfectly weighted long balls to set up the attack, and is a lock down defender.
He eventually was named Dortmund’s captain, and led them to a historic year in 2015-2016, and seemed like only more greatness was in store. Which is why Dortmund fans were appalled when Hummels announced he would be going home to the Bavarian giants. This was largely viewed as a weak move by Dortmund supporters, similarly to how people view Durant’s move to Golden State. Yet Hummels receives far less criticism than KD.
Perhaps it’s because Mario and Lewy already made the switch to Munich, but this was different. Mats Hummels was the captain and he made it clear that even he couldn’t stand hand in hand with his men anymore in the fight to beat Bayern. In truth, Hummels killed the one thing that Dortmund supporters secretly lived for, hope.
Next: Former Dortmund Boss Thomas Tuchel Almost Joined Schalke This Summer
Hope that one day they could be even better than Bayern. Which is why Hummels can not be excused from criticism. While supporters are grateful for the years he spent with Dortmund, in the end, he left the only team in Germany that can truly say they are better than Dortmund. He didn’t make the move to the blood-sworn Revier rivals in blue, but instead to Big Brother in red. Which in this day and age, may even be more frustrating for Dortmund fans.
Mats Hummels is a World Champion, a Bundesliga Champion, and a German Cup Champion, however, similarly to Kevin Durant, may find that no feat of success will indeed allow him to pardon himself from all real forms of criticism.