The Golden State Warriors weren’t the right location for Kevin Durant this season — not after what happened to Durant in the 2018-19 season.
Durant explained that there were multiple factors in his decision to leave the Warriors for the Brooklyn Nets during the 2019 offseason, but his spat with Draymond Green was among those reasons.
“A little bit, yeah. For sure,” Durant told the hosts on ESPN’s “First Take” on Thursday. “Your teammate talked to you that way. You think about it a bit. We talked about it, but definitely. For sure. I’m not going to lie about it.”
In the early stages of last season, Green told Durant that the Warriors didn’t need him and that he should leave in free agency in the coming year. Green later brushed off the argument by saying that he tended to get into these sorts of exchanges with all of his friends. But Durant didn’t seem like he got past the comments quite as easily. The star explained that he felt that spat led to a greater focus on the Warriors’ dysfunction and, in turn, on Durant’s pending departure for free agency.
“I wish that wouldn’t have happened. I feel like that was a situation that could have definitely been avoided,” Durant told ESPN. “It really came out of nowhere, and for us, everybody was just looking for something to tear us down with. And that just bought into the firestorm from free agency — every day was about my free agency.”
He added: “Draymond knew that he was out of line. As men, we talked about it. Everybody around tried to get us to mend it fast, because of the season and we wanted to win. But he had his process and I respected that. And I had my process, and eventually we came together.”
The media didn’t really tear down the Warriors — they made it to the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. Instead, injuries seemed to sink Golden State, with Klay Thompson tearing his ACL and Durant suffering a torn Achilles after dealing with calf issues for much of the playoffs. The Warriors lost the series in six games. And at that point, just about everyone — including Warriors coach Steve Kerr — expected Durant to find a new team.
Draymond’s comments were among the reasons for Durant’s departure. But they weren’t the reason. Durant could see the end was near.
“I just felt like I needed a switch,” Durant told ESPN. “I felt like a lot of stuff in Golden State had reared its head. I felt like that was going to be the end no matter what, especially for that group. Shaun Livingston was retiring. Andre Iguodala was getting older. Our contracts were going to stifle the team and put us in a hole to get other player, so I was just like — it was time for all of us to separate.”
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