Kevin Durant reveals the toughest playoff series he has won

Kevin Durant may not be the NBA’s most beloved player for his decision to join the Golden State Warriors back in 2016; this decision of his robbed their biggest rival Oklahoma City Thunderfighting chance. But before his infamous free agency move, Durant was universally admired, as he led a hometown Thunder team built through the draft to great heights.

Through it all, one of the greatest small forwards of all time has gone through many tough playoff battles. One playoff series in particular came to a head Phoenix Suns Zvezda’s mind when asked on X (formerly known as Twitter) what the toughest playoff battle is he was able to overcome was — The Thunder’s 2012 Western Conference Finals matchup against a red-hot San Antonio Spurs team.

“VCF 2012, spurs…against a team that won 20 games in a row or some s**t. Down 0-2, won 4 straight games to make the finals…legendary streak imo, especially that game 6,” Durant wrote.

Indeed, the Thunder may have arrived that year as a legitimately competitive team, but they didn’t have much experience, especially compared to that Spurs team which still had the legendary trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker intact. That team also had a young Kawhi Leonard locking down players on the wing.

They were coming off a heartbreaking exit from the Western Conference Finals in 2011 and looked set to suffer the same fate a year later. But the Thunder were able to dig deep, with James Harden blossoming into a huge star in a big postseason. They hung on but managed to win four in a row and take down a brilliant Spurs team – setting the stage for Oklahoma City’s first (and only) trip to the NBA Finals to date.

The Thunder remain the NBA’s biggest what-if after hearing of the Kevin Durant era

It’s not too often that a team gets to draft three Hall of Famers in consecutive drafts. But the Thunder did it with their selections of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden — and in the early 2010s, it looked like they would be the most unstoppable force in the league for years.

alas, after the Thunder lost in the 2012 NBA Finals, they decided to trade Harden — a decision that haunts the franchise to this day. Harden looked like a long-term goaltender after turning their series against the Spurs on its head, so it was all the more baffling that the team traded him to save pennies — damaging the franchise’s long-term prospects, leading to Durant’s eventual departure.