Titles don't come with an asterisk

Now that Kevin Durant has joined the 73-win Warriors of 2015-16 and the three stars they already have — Steph, Klay and the guy that likes to kick opponents in the you-know-what — maybe it doesn’t matter who their fifth starter is next season.

Might as well be me — or, better yet, the dude wearing the full Michael Jordan Bulls jersey playing in-your-face defense in a pickup basketball game the other day, a clip that went viral on Twitter and apparently took place at Coeur d’Alene City Park (who is he?).

In any event, this isn’t about whether a superstar can leave the only organization he’s ever played for to join a stacked team for a better chance to win a title — he’s earned the right to work wherever he wants.

Nor is this about Sonics fans deriving some satisfaction from this — the owner that took their NBA team away losing his best player, and perhaps losing his second-best player next year.

I THOUGHT back to the 2003-04 season, when Gary Payton, who played most of his career with the Sonics, and Karl Malone, a legendary Jazzman, joined Shaq and Kobe — or, Kobe and Shaq, depending on whose side you’re on — in an attempt to win an NBA title with the Lakers.

That just seemed weird — Payton (and Shawn Kemp) was a big reason the Sonics were so good in the 1990s, and Malone (and that Stockton fellow) did the same with the Jazz. But neither could beat the Bulls — who featured the real MJ, not the pickup-game MJ.

The Lakers started 18-3 that season. But Malone went down with a knee injury in December, and Shaq and Kobe also missed time due to injuries. The “Big Four” played only 20 games together.

Looking back, it was a wonder they made it all the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games.

Still, it was hard to get used to The Mailman — with his head now shaven — wearing a Lakers uniform, after he and Stockton helped send the Lakers home from the playoffs in previous years. Probably seemed the same to Sonics fans watching Payton in an L.A. uniform.

DURANT’S SITUATION is different, obviously. He’s in the prime of his career — not someone at the end of the road, like Payton and Malone. Charles Barkley had already switched teams, going from the Sixers to the Suns, and then at the end, to Houston to join Hakeem the Dream and Clyde the Glide, so that wasn’t quite the same.

But before we concede Golden State the next five or so NBA titles, remember that all the pieces have to fit together. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were content to play off of Steph Curry. The cute-and-cuddly Warriors were the sexy pick to win it all last year, until Curry got banged up and Green couldn’t keep his arms and legs to himself, and LeBron and the Cavs seized the opportunity.

Durant has never had to play off of anybody, at least as far back as 2007, when during his lone college season, he wowed fans at the Spokane Arena by carrying Texas into the second round of the NCAA tournament.

He’s always seemed to be a ball-in-hand guy, taking (and making) a lot of tough shots. Maybe he’ll enjoy not having to carry the entire load anymore.

It may seem like a crazy notion that Durant wouldn’t automatically be able to just show up and fit in with the Warriors, the apparent selfless superstar that he is. But sometimes star pick-up players don’t always fit in with their new teams — roles change.

You may be right — I may be crazy. Check back this time next year.

Funny how, in a few short years, the Warriors have gone from an afterthought in the NBA to a model franchise to, now, almost a superteam.

ALMOST.

It’s not quite like in 2007-08, when the Celtics ended nearly two decades of horrendous play by adding Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to a team featuring Paul Pierce.

Or, more recently, when LeBron and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade to win a couple of titles in Miami.

We like things to be pure — like to see college players stay all four years, like to see pro teams build from within, culminated after a few seasons by a championship.

But, anymore, fans don’t cheer any less when their one-and- done college team wins a national title, or their loaded-up pro team wins an NBA title.

When they list those champions in the record book, they don’t come with asterisks, like:

*Team sucked for years until Garnett and Allen were added; or

*Team actually constructed by LeBron and Wade, not by Pat Riley

THE WARRIORS have gone from lovable to a little bit despised in a short time, at least outside of the Bay Area, with those tiring of Green’s antics and, to a lesser extent, Curry’s posing after 3-pointers. And now the Durant signing.

They’re not a love-em-or-hate-em team, like the Yankees and Duke basketball. Hopefully they’ll still be as fun to watch with their selfless play. And hopefully the other top NBA teams, like the Cavs did, will have the ability, the fortitude and the gameplan to challenge the Warriors. If they do win it all, like many believe is inevitable, at least make them earn it.

Remember, they were supposed to win this year, too.

And even if they do win “not one, not two, not three ... ” NBA titles with their pick-up player, it won’t be qualified with this footnote in the record book:

*Group only won one title until adding Durant to already star-studded squad.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.