A Golden Decision...

Life offers us only so many opportunities. There's that window from ages 31-50 to make your money so you can retire to the confines of the beach and see the world. Fellas, when you meet that special someone, that window is even shorter. Most businesses fail within the first 3 years because we never get into the black after spending so much on expenditures. Bottom line, is that when these doors open to do better for yourself, what becomes our rationale for either accepting them or rejecting them? Is it loyalty, fear of change, or the need for something greater that drives a person to take advantage of an opportunity.

That is what Kevin Durant did as he announced on the Players Tribune that he will sign with the Golden State Warriors after spending the first 9 years in Seattle then Oklahoma City when the franchise relocated. He won the 2014 NBA MVP and is one of the league's best shooters. He left an Oklahoma City team that came within a quarter of defeating the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. There is vitriol on the Twitter-verse, calling Durant a "ring chaser" and what he did being worse than LeBron's "The Decision" to join the Miami Heat in 2010. However, there's an analogy that best describes what KD did. Maybe not on the same scale, but it's all the same.

I think of my father back in 1991. He was very successful as a Logistics Director at the U.S. Postal Service in Macon, Georgia. He was also a well-beloved associate pastor. He was given an opportunity to move his family to Washington DC for three times as much the money. Didn't give it a second thought about terms like loyalty and sticking to familiar territory. He did what was best for himself and his family, and we all prospered as a result.

I hear people say it now, "Jordan, Magic or Bird never left!" To that I have three reasons why: Chicago, LA, and Boston. It's kind of hard to leave those cities when you know they are destinations. Oh by the way, you all know that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left Milwaukee for the confines of LA, so this has precedent. Only difference was that there was no Twitter-verse or Stephen A. Smiths hating on his every move.

Durant had to do what was best for him, he owes Oklahoma City nothing. The window opened up to go to Silicon Valley and he did what 99% of us would do. They say that 48% of people never leave their hometown. I say that those people are the ones who miss out on the best life has to offer. The worst thing a person can have in life is regret.