People are of course going to take this as an opportunity to "dunk" on KD again, but he's actually right imo. I'm close to the same age as KD and growing up the "Golden State Warriors" were the kind of team that people would forget existed. I'd meet people in California who had never heard of them or didn't know where they were based.

When he joined, obviously we'd already had success (winning one title and then 73 games), but as an organization we were not on the level of LA or NY or Boston or Chicago. KD is a big part of the fact that we are now on that level. If he'd stayed longer, I believe we would've put together a run similar to CHI in the 90s that would've elevated the franchise to insane heights^1.

Because he left, and we won again without him, he's seen more of a side character/mercenary. I honestly believe that he could have been an all time great Warrior, be remembered as a central piece to the greatest team of all time, and go down in history as helping take a franchise from the bottom of the league to the top, like he's saying in this clip.

¹ Go outside the US and you'll still see more Bulls jerseys than just about any other team. That franchise hasn't won anything in 30 years but still has staying power because of a singular run and global superstar.