Everything changed when Kevin Durant sent that tweet on July 4, 2016. "My Next Chapter." It wasn't just a player moving teams; it was an atomic bomb dropped on the competitive balance of the league. If you look back at the NBA season 2016 2017, it feels like a fever dream where the stats stopped making sense and the "superteam" era finally hit its final, terrifying form.
We saw things that year we hadn’t seen in five decades. Russell Westbrook went on a literal rampage. James Harden became a passing wizard under Mike D'Antoni. The Warriors were basically a cheat code from a video game that someone forgot to patch. It was a weird, lopsided, brilliant year of basketball.
The Triple-Double that broke the internet
Let’s talk about Russ. Before the NBA season 2016 2017, a triple-double was a rare, celebrated event—the kind of thing that led the SportsCenter highlights. Then Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City for Golden State, and Russell Westbrook decided he was going to play every single game like he was trying to punch a hole through the floor.
He averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists.
Think about that. For 82 games, a 6'3" point guard out-rebounded centers and out-scored everyone. He broke Oscar Robertson’s record of 41 triple-doubles in a single season, finishing with 42. I remember watching his game against Denver late in the season—the one where he hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to win the game and clinch the record. Even the Nuggets fans were cheering. It was pure, unadulterated basketball spite.
While Russ was grabbing all the headlines, James Harden was quietly (well, not that quietly) reinventing himself in Houston. D’Antoni moved him to full-time point guard. Harden responded by leading the league in assists with 11.2 per game. People argue about that MVP race to this day. Should it have gone to the guy who averaged a triple-double on a 6-seed, or the guy who led a top-3 offense and created more points than anyone in history? Honestly, both sides have a point, but the voters went with the historical outlier.
Golden State and the 73-9 hangover
The Warriors were coming off a season where they won more games than any team ever, only to lose a 3-1 lead in the Finals. So, what did they do? They added the second-best player in the world.
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Watching the Warriors during the NBA season 2016 2017 was actually kind of boring for the first month. They were figuring out how to share the ball. Then, it clicked. Suddenly, you had Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant all on the same floor. If you doubled Steph, KD had a wide-open lane. If you helped on KD, Klay was standing in the corner. It was unfair. They finished the regular season 67-15, which actually felt low for them.
The real story was the playoffs. They went 16-1. They steamrolled the Western Conference. Portland? Swept. Utah? Swept. San Antonio? Swept (aided by the Zaza Pachulia-Kawhi Leonard landing zone incident that changed the course of Spurs history). It wasn't a contest; it was a coronation.
The Kawhi Leonard Leap
Before he was the "fun guy" in Toronto or the load-management king in LA, Kawhi was the silent assassin in San Antonio. This was the year he truly became a superstar on both ends. He finished third in MVP voting. He was the only thing standing between the Warriors and a total cakewalk. When he went down in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the competitive tension of the season basically evaporated. It’s one of those "what if" moments that still haunts Spurs fans.
The Eastern Conference and the King's shadow
In the East, LeBron James was still the final boss. The Cleveland Cavaliers were the defending champs, and they played like a team that knew they could flip a switch. LeBron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love were a juggernaut.
But there was this tiny guard in Boston making life difficult.
Isaiah Thomas. "The Little Man."
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IT’s 2016-17 season is one of the most tragic and inspiring runs in sports history. He was 5'9" on a good day, yet he averaged 28.9 points per game. He was "King in the Fourth," consistently taking over games when it mattered most. His 53-point performance against the Wizards in the playoffs—on what would have been his late sister’s birthday—is the stuff of legends. Sadly, the hip injury he played through that year basically ended his prime. It was a high-flame burn that didn't last, but man, it was bright.
Stats that shouldn't be real
If you look at the raw numbers from the NBA season 2016 2017, they look like they were pulled from a MyCareer mode on 2K.
- Devin Booker scored 70 points in a single game against the Celtics. He was 20 years old.
- Klay Thompson scored 60 points in 29 minutes. He only dribbled the ball 11 times.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo became the first player in NBA history to finish in the top 20 in total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.
The league was transitioning. The "Pace and Space" era wasn't just a trend anymore; it was the law of the land. Teams were realizing that if you weren't shooting 30+ threes a night, you were living in the Stone Age.
The Big Men started shooting
This was also the year we saw the "Unicorns" take over. Kristaps Porzingis, Joel Embiid (who finally debuted), and Karl-Anthony Towns were showing that 7-footers didn't have to just stay in the paint. Nikola Jokic moved into the starting lineup in Denver in December 2016, and the Nuggets' offense instantly became one of the best in the league. We were seeing the blueprint for the next decade of basketball being drawn in real-time.
The Finals: Part III
The 2017 Finals felt inevitable. It was the third straight year of Cavs vs. Warriors.
The Cavs were great. They really were. LeBron averaged a triple-double in the Finals—the first player ever to do that. But the Warriors had Kevin Durant. KD was clinical, averaging 35.2 points on absurd efficiency.
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There’s a specific shot from Game 3. The Cavs were up late. Durant brings the ball up, ignores everyone, and just pulls up for a three over LeBron. Swish. That shot effectively ended the LeBron era in Cleveland. The Warriors won the series 4-1. It wasn't as close as the 2016 series, but the level of talent on the floor was arguably the highest we've ever seen in a single series.
Why it actually matters now
Looking back at the NBA season 2016 2017, it represents the peak of "player empowerment." It sparked the movement that led to the current parity we see in the league today. The NBA eventually changed rules regarding "supermax" contracts and trade demands largely because of the fallout from this era.
It was also the last year before the league became truly obsessed with "load management." Stars played. Russ played 81 games. Harden played 81. LeBron played 74. You didn't have to check a Twitter feed an hour before tip-off to see if the best players were actually going to suit up.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're looking to dive deeper into why this season was a turning point, here are a few things to study:
- Analyze the 2016-17 Houston Rockets offensive system. It’s the direct ancestor to the way almost every modern NBA team plays today—high pick-and-roll, hunting for layups or threes, and zero mid-range shots.
- Watch the "All-NBA" voting from that year. It’s a masterclass in how much the game changed. Traditional centers were being phased out for versatile bigs, and the guard depth was so insane that players like Damian Lillard didn't even make the first or second teams despite massive stats.
- Review the 2016 Free Agency salary cap spike. The only reason the Warriors could sign KD was a one-time massive jump in the cap. The NBA has since implemented "cap smoothing" to prevent this from ever happening again, making the 2017 Warriors a literal "glitch in the system."
- Study Russell Westbrook’s "usage rate." It was 41.7%, a record at the time. It’s a perfect case study in the limits of a single player carrying an entire franchise.
The 2016-17 season wasn't just a year on the calendar. It was the moment the NBA decided to stop being a traditional sports league and started being a year-round soap opera filled with high-level math and unbelievable athleticism. We haven't really looked back since.