BREAKING NEWS: Point Guard Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors has terminated his employment with the team following a background debate with management over…

As I watch the Minnesota Timberwolves on the verge of sweeping the Phoenix Suns out of the playoffs today, I’m reminded yet again of how difficult winning a championship is even if you have a “superteam”.

The Suns boast an electric trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.

In terms of All-Star game appearances, Booker (3), Beal (3), and Durant (13) have combined for 19. KD is a former MVP with four scoring titles to his name, while Beal and Booker are two of the best scoring guards of the modern era.

So with that big 3, how are they down 0-3 in the first round to Minnesota?

I think this is why the hate the Golden State Warriors received for adding KD back in 2016 was both understandable and also quite assumptive.

It was like the basketball world effectively called the Dubs cheaters for stacking the deck by adding an MVP to a 73 win team.

But we can see from Durant’s post-Warriors journey that it’s not as simple as cobbling together All-Stars and watching the titles roll in.

He did team up with James Harden and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn in a short lived and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to take over the Eastern Conference.

And now in his second year in Phoenix, it’s clear that they don’t have the juice to compete at the highest levels of the West.

That’s why it worked out for both parties (the Warriors won another title without KD while Durant was able to exercise his personal autonomy with his decision to leave), but the fact that a player as dominant as KD is still sitting on two rings will always be a fan’s “What If” surrounding his exit.