It’s been almost eight months since Kevin Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets and officially ended his tenure with the Golden State Warriors.
Warriors majority owner Joe Lacob told 95.7 The Game on Monday that he still doesn’t understand the logic behind it.
After all, Durant left a dynasty.
“To me, (it) made no sense,” Lacob said. “Like, you’re the best organization, I hope he thinks, in the world… Winning. Other great players. The new Arena. To me, there was like every reason in the world to stay, but I’m not going to be mad at him because it’s his life.”
Lacob reiterated he’s not upset at Durant.
“I can’t get mad when Kevin Durant, who I felt pretty close with, decides he’s going to leave,” Lacob said. “… He earned the right and for whatever reason he decided he wanted to leave.”
During Durant’s three years with the Warriors, Golden State appeared in all three Finals and won two of them. Durant won both Finals MVP awards.
The Finals loss came when Durant missed almost all the series with an Achilles injury and guard Klay Thompson tore his ACL.
Durant went into more extensive reasoning on his decision to leave Golden State in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in September.
“I came in there wanting to be part of a group, wanting to be part of a family, and definitely felt accepted,” Durant said. “But I’ll never be one of those guys … Steph Curry, obviously drafted there. Andre Iguodala, won the first Finals, first championship. Klay Thompson, drafted there. Draymond Green, drafted there. And the rest of the guys kind of rehabilitated their careers there.
“As time went on, I started to realize I’m just different from the rest of the guys. It’s not a bad thing. Just my circumstances and how I came up in the league. And on top of that, the media always looked at it like KD and the Warriors. So it’s like nobody could (give) a full acceptance of me there.”
Durant found a place he felt more at home by teaming up with friends Kyrie Irving and Deandre Jordan in Brooklyn.
But for Lacob, who looks back at the team he put together as arguably the best of all time, doesn’t really get why a player would choose to leave a perennial championship contender.
