Ben Rohrbach,Yahoo Sports•May 28, 2019

Much of the lead-up to the last eight NBA Finals focused on what each potential championship meant for the legacy of LeBron James, but now that he is not in the playoff picture, we turn our attention to what this series means for so many others.

It is remarkable that this year’s Finals feature three deserving heirs to LeBron’s throne, all attempting to lay claim to the title of Best Basketball Player Alive. Much is riding on this series for Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Kawhi Leonard from a historical standpoint, but they aren’t the only ones whose careers will be viewed differently depending on the outcome of the first LeBron-less finals since 2010.

Let’s run through the three players putting their legacies on the line when the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors tip off the 2019 Finals on Thursday.

Kevin Durant

Durant’s frustration with legacy narratives is understandable when you consider that he has won the last two Finals MVP awards in decisive victories against LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and yet there are still so many unanswered questions about his place in the league entering this year’s Finals. Such is the plight of a legendary player who joined a historically great team to chase championships.

What if Durant doesn’t return from his calf strain, and the Warriors beat the Raptors without him? What if he does come back, only to be outplayed in a loss to Kawhi Leonard? Or what if he returns to lay waste to Leonard and the Raptors, delivering a third straight title and capturing a third straight Finals MVP in dominating fashion?

How this series unfolds will go a long way in telling the tale of Durant’s tenure in Golden State, especially if he leaves in free agency at season’s end, and his injury leads to so many fascinating plot lines. Fair or unfair, the Warriors winning without him would lessen the shine on his hardware. A hobbled loss to the Raptors leaves more to the imagination. Maybe it would show how much this dynasty really needed him, or maybe it would serve as a reminder of how little they were tested in years past.

However you slice it, Durant has more riding on the next couple weeks than anyone else. A third straight handshake with Bill Russell at series end would give him as many rings as Larry Bird and as many Finals MVPs as LeBron at 30 years old, which further complicates any conversation about the greatest small forward ever.

For the record, Durant has been ruled out for Game 1, but is traveling to Toronto.

Stephen Curry

Curry won a title with the Warriors before Durant joined them in July 2016, and his legacy would undoubtedly be bolstered by winning another in KD’s injury absence this year. Still, in order to start climbing the highest rungs of the NBA legends ladder, Curry needs the Finals MVP trophy that eluded him when Andre Iguodala’s defense swiped it in 2015 and Durant’s dominance demanded it the past two years.

This Finals MVP will be the first in almost a decade decided on one’s own merit and not by LeBron or how well someone performed opposite him. That will shape how we consider the Greatest Player Alive argument for the next decade and beyond. If Curry rises to take this one, it will erase the false narrative that he had not met the moment earlier and render questions about his claim to previous awards irrelevant.

Here is the list of players with at least one regular-season MVP, a Finals MVP and four rings to his name: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. Finals MVP wasn’t an award until 1969, but since the award is named after Russell, we can probably safely add him to the ledger, too. Curry would be the eighth name on that list. This is rarefied air.

I’m not sure Curry climbs into the top 10 all-time with a Finals MVP performance, but he will be damn close at age 31, and it will be hard to argue against him ranking as the second-best point guard in NBA history behind only Magic at that point.

Kawhi Leonard

Leonard was close himself to Greatest Living Player status when last we saw him face these Warriors in the playoffs and Zaza Pachulia stepped under his ankle 28 minutes into Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference finals. That injury may have altered the course of the league forever, but here we are again, with Leonard getting another shot at Golden State and Best Basketball Player on the Planet status.

Here’s to second chances.

If Leonard takes down Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Warriors in back-to-back series — after ousting the Philadelphia 76ers on one of the greatest shots in NBA history — he will have a better-than-ever claim to the title Michael Jordan bestowed upon him two summers ago: “the best two-way player in the game right now.”

It’s hard to imagine the Raptors winning without Leonard warranting Finals MVP honors, and if that’s the case, it would be his second on as many teams in five years. He will also have a pair of championship rings, Defensive Player of the Year awards and top-three regular-season MVP finishes in that span. He is 27 years old.

Leonard’s statistical legacy won’t be what it could have been had he not played in San Antonio’s egalitarian system or missed almost a full season due to injury, but he also might not be in this position if not for both of those experiences. Regardless, he would vault into the conversation of the greatest 25 players ever with another title, and his peak would be closer to top-10 level, right around Hakeem Olajuwon, currently the only player in league history with two DPOY and Finals MVP awards.