Kevin Durant’s sudden move to the Golden State Lakers in 2016 had buzzed quite a lot around NBA circles. The fans and pundits seemed unhappy with him and mostly reacted negatively to KD’s new venture. However, this buzz was cut short by LeBron James’ powerful 2016 ring night speech for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs won their first NBA title with LeBron James that same year, defeating the Warriors 4-3 in the series.

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Kevin Durant’s move to the Warriors happened right after LeBron and co. made an iconic comeback from 3-1 down in the Finals series. LeBron James’ brilliant performance, which included a clutch block against Andre Iguodala in Game 7, earned him the Finals MVP title. This series is still regarded as one of the greatest NBA Finals ever.

LeBron James’ firey speech in 2016 clouded buzz around Kevin Durant’s Warriors move

The buzz around Kevin Durant’s move to the Warriors in 2016 caught the attention of everyone in the NBA, including LeBron James. Though James never explicitly commented about KD’s move, he had his own way of tackling the buzz during that time. This happened after the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Warriors in their second straight NBA Finals.

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LeBron’s motivating and firey ring-night speech for the Cavs players was captivating enough to attract all attention from KD’s move toward Cleveland’s serious contention for the NBA title. The clip of this speech has resurfaced on Twitter. In his speech, LeBron James said:

“At this point, if you’re not from here, live here, play here, dedicate yourself to Cleveland, it makes no sense for you to live at this point. Cleveland against the world!” 

LeBron’s speech declared an all-out war against the opponent team and the NBA to bring home the 2016 title to Cleveland. Surely, Bron’s speech worked like magic, given that Cleveland made one of the most historic comebacks in the history of the NBA Finals. The series went up to seven games, with Cleveland coming back from 1-3 down to win the series 4-3. Additionally, the NBA gave LeBron James Finals MVP award for his epic performance. Game 7 of the series also received the 2016 ESPY award in the Best Game category.

LeBron regards 2016 Christmas Day game against Kevin Durant as the greatest match ever

The 2016 NBA Finals loss gave the Warriors more urgency in landing Kevin Durant in free agency. After Game 7 of the Finals series, LeBron James and the Cavs next met the Warriors on Christmas day of 2016. The game was an absolute thriller.

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The Cavs went on a neck-to-neck battle against the Warriors, with Kyrie Irving being the match-winning player. KD dropped 36 points, Klay Thompson had 24, while LBJ and Kyrie scored 31 and 25 points each. The Cavs eventually won the game, defeating the Warriors 109-108. Additionally, right after the game, LBJ gave a shoutout to the Warriors and KD on his IG story with the caption, “The Absolute Greatest!!!”

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