In his first official press conference in a Brooklyn Nets uniform, Kevin Durant explained his reasons for leaving the Golden State Warriors in free agency. His reasons are manifold, but his top reason appears to be an affection for the Nets style of basketball, with coach Kenny Atkinson central to that discussion.
His claim to have done very little research on other coaches suggests that those other reasons may have been a close second in his decision-making, with his research on Atkinson validating his choice.
Of his research, Durant said:
I was doing a lot of YouTube research on Kenny Atkinson, and watching interviews and seeing how he talked about the game. And I really liked his approach to his craft as a coach, and that’s what drew me in pretty quickly.
I could see through YouTube and from the clips that he was pretty genuine about the game.
“I didn’t really do too much research on other coaches,” Durant added. “I guess [Atkinson] always had the leg up.”
And Atkinson appears to have held that advantage even though Durant had not really spoken to him.
During the 2018-19 season, rumors swirled that Durant wanted to play with friends Kyrie Irving and Caris Levert, and that he also wanted to be on the East coast. The future Hall of Famer — who won two straight NBA championships and Finals MVP awards with the Warriors (2017, 2018) — confirmed as much.
“Obviously, being on the East coast again is something I was really excited about, [having played] most of my career in the Midwest and on the West coast,” Durant said, adding that he is happy to be just a few hours from his D.C.-area home.
All those factors — Atkinson’s approach to the game, his relationships with Irving and Levert, geography– “kind of combined at once” as factors in his decision.
