Kevin Durant decided to take his talents to the Bay Area and play with the Golden State Warriors for next season and maybe some Thunder players are actually fine with that. Reports are saying that long before his decision, teammates on the Thunder were not feeling how friendly Durant was with Warriors players. Anytime a marquee player leaves one franchise for another, there are bound to be reports and comments from former teammates or people affiliated with the team that can’t always be trusted but this seems pretty legit.
@IamJoeSports
On Adrian Wojnarowski’s “The Vertical Pod,” Woj discussed Durant’s exit with Jeff Van Gundy. In an expansive conversation, Wojnarowski dropped this bomb:
“I know Russell (Westbrook) was bothered by — and some other teammates were too — of, like, there was some knowledge there that Draymond (Green) was in contact with Kevin (Durant) all season long and they’re in a playoff series and I know there was some conversation around the Thunder team of ‘Hey man, this guy kicked Steven Adams in the nuts twice in this series and what are you doing hanging out with this guy? What’s the relationship? We’re trying to beat these guys.’”
Green was basically recruiting KD the entire NBA season and seemingly Durant enjoyed it, rather than pushing it off. Thunder players definitely had a right to be upset about that cause it seems like Durant maybe had one foot out the door all year long.
For what it’s worth, Durant somewhat defended and explained his decision during his Warriors introductory press conference yesterday.
“We live in this superhero comic book world where either you’re a villain or you’re a superhero if you’re in this position, and I know that, and I know I haven’t changed as a person,” Durant said during his introductory press conference Thursday. “I don’t treat people any differently because I made the decision to play basketball in another city. I understand the fans in Oklahoma City and basketball fans around the world are, I guess, upset, but like I said, I made the decision based upon what I wanted to do and how I felt, and it’s the best decision for me, so I can’t really control how you feel.”
It’s still shocking to see Durant in a Warriors jersey and it will likely take a while for NBA fans to get used to it but what’s done is done. I would’ve hoped his competitive spirit was stronger than that to join the Warriors and to be that friendly with them even before he left but at the end of the day KD lives for himself and his family first and he made a decision based on that.
