According To Kevin Durant, Winning An MVP Is More Valuable Than Winning A Ring

Layne Murdoch. Getty Images.

Perhaps it's because we're in the dead season of the NBA Calendar or if this is just how things are going to be on social media these days, but there's a recent trend of old podcast clips getting reposted and aggregated as new "news", which I'm not sure how to feel about. In some cases, there have been things that come across my timeline that have been a few months old that I personally had never seen, like what we got with the Anthony Davis lies about how his trade out of New Orleans went down

That took place in April but I never saw or heard much about it at the time, probably because I was locked into the actual NBA season at that time. 

On the other hand, I do think it's weird to treat old news as new news, just for the engagement/Twitter payout. 

I couldn't help but notice we had another example of this today, this time with Kevin Durant. Riding off the high of his return to Twitter to honor Russell Westbrook which honestly was one of the best tributes you'll ever read

it's not surprising that we started to get some KD quotes/tweets to ride that wave. Sort of like what came across my timeline earlier today

Obviously, given that quote and who is saying it, you knew there's going to be pushback/engagement, so I wanted to see the actual video to try and get better context around the quote.

As it turns out, this interview took place back in December 2025. Just like the AD interview, I hadn't seen that clip or interview before so it was new to me, but for the sake of journalistic integrity, if you care about that sort of thing that's when it happened.

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Now, in terms of what KD said? To me it's a complicated topic that requires a bit of nuance. 

For example, in my eyes, a player who leads his team to a title will always have more weight than the regular season MVP. When you put your team on your back and carry them to the top of the mountain, that matters more to me personally, even if that guy didn't win the MVP that year. 

At the same time, an MVP weighs more than say, a role player who didn't do much but was just on a championship team. 

As a player, everyone wants to win, but it's not that simple. So much goes into winning a title, that's why it's a team accomplishment.

I will say this. Once a player does win an MVP, the importance of then securing that ring drastically increases. When you're at that level, you're expected to also come through in the postseason. When you win the ring first, there isn't that same sort of pressure on the MVP, especially if you continue to compete for and win rings. But if you're an MVP who never gets a ring or even worse, never gets close? That's definitely used as a mark against you.

I can also understand a player putting more weight on an MVP because technically, that means you are the best player on the planet. If we're looking at all-time rankings and things of that nature, I do think an MVP holds a good amount of weight. I can also understand a player who never won a ring being willing to trade their MVP for one.

Where things get a little tricky for KD is the fact that, ya know, he went to GS to secure at least 1 title. He knew he needed a ring. His own actions do show that there is a great deal of importance on securing a Larry. At the same time, Kevin Durant is someone who has an MVP and then two more Finals MVPs. I guess if anyone were able to speak on this topic, it's probably the guy who has done both. People may not like the answer because of who is giving it, but it wouldn't shock me if a lot of other fellow MVPs/Champions would agree. If you asked LeBron, Steph, Giannis, Jokic, or SGA (guys with both) this same question, how different would their answers be? 

Honestly, this is one of those situations/questions where I see both sides of the argument. As fans I think we'll always put the ring over everything, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn a lot of NBA players feel the same way as KD.