In the aftermath of The Block in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant as a free agent — one of the biggest signings in NBA history.
The following season, they dominated. 67-15 in the regular season. Three consecutive Playoffs sweeps to make the NBA Finals, head-to-head with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third straight year, for a tie-breaking showdown after splitting the past two NBA Finals faceoffs.
In Game 3 of that series, with the Warriors up 2-0, but down 113-111 with 45 seconds left, Kevin Durant pulled up in transition for a pure three-pointer that sealed the victory, and ultimately the series, for Golden State — earning him his first NBA Championship and Finals MVP.
This shot is the first Kevin Durant Anthology Moment.
This shot is The Dagger.
Only 99 Legendary Moments of “The Dagger” will ever exist — introducing The Anthology for one of the greatest players of all time — and bringing the defining play of the 2017 NBA Finals to collectors. Read the story of this Moment here, and see how you can make it part of your collection below.
- 25 of "The Dagger" have been rewarded to the Top 25 members of the Kevin Durant Player Leaderboard at the time of the snapshot at 11 AM ET on June 1, 2023: Cute_hamster6263, staystacced, fixed_barnacle6369, Galactus, fzk, Haku, Cuteknick, alxo, evantan, jayaaarrrgh, 5talen, dingaling, dakid456, woodenwootten, AE_Collection, Ganna, las_happiness22822, Oriental, Dotti, runcornwaves, Lions_For_Breakfast, AhmadScientist, JenK, TragikJonzun, and S_Unit.
- An additional 25 collectors between 26-1000 on the Kevin Durant Player Leaderboard at the time of the snapshot on June 1, 2023, were selected via a weighted draw. They are: 0xRalph (#26), MrT (#29), Nautical_Sausage (#33), fasteddy99 (#36), steve (#40), jakelowell (#54), unifish (#57), zek (#60), mrnonel (#62), Sbreezy (#71), Kuruptshun (#73), JerseyJ (#82), SunsUp (#93), Wades (#96), GeauxT (#110), SirZubz (#121), Shonky (#122), hoshko (#126), shabib (#157), diywade (#189), StraightCashHomie (#204), Finnish_Flash (#293), Brandoncook11 (#324), BostonBased (#388), and Yanda (#674).
- 10 of these Moments will be hidden inside Hustle and Show Packs, made available later this June for 15 Trade Tickets each and also earned via Leaderboards during the NBA Finals.
- 33 of these Moments will be hidden inside 2023 NBA Finals Packs, made available later this June for $499 each and also earned via Leaderboards during the NBA Finals.
- 6 of these Moments have been directly earned via Finals Leaderboards, with runcornwaves, dyhalto, staystacced, gonestreakin, mbl267, and JenK earning them.
As one of the most iconic plays in NBA and NBA Finals history, we are proud to bring this extremely limited edition Legendary tier collectible to NBA Top Shot, and give you a first look of what's coming today.