When Stephen Curry sees Kevin Durant make his regular-season debut for the Brooklyn Nets Tuesday night, he doesn’t anticipate a rush of adrenaline because he will be playing his former Warriors teammate.
“At the end of the day, it’s just another game,” Curry said Monday. “It’s our first regular-season game, so there’s (already) a lot of excitement. It’ll be cool to see him out there, and all those pleasantries, and then get to just competing.”
During Durant’s tenure in Golden State from 2016 to 2019, the Warriors never missed the Finals — pushing their total to five straight Finals appearances. In 2019’s series, though, Durant tore his Achilles tendon as the Warriors lost to the Raptors. Less than a month later, Durant signed as a free agent with the Nets.
But like he sought to join a championship-caliber team in the Warriors in 2016, Durant said Monday he viewed joining the Nets as a similar opportunity — not as him leaving to build his own team.
“I try not to make myself bigger than the group,” Durant told reporters. “But I know what I add to a basketball club and I felt that way with the Warriors. So it wasn’t about me going to the Nets to try to prove that I can make my own thing.”
The final season of the partnership was filled with tension. Media prodded Durant with questions about his future, championship-or-bust expectations weighed heavily on the team and the yelling match between Durant and Draymond Green (ruled out for Tuesday’s game with a foot injury) in an overtime loss to the Clippers in the first month of the season was treated as public evidence that the era was coming to an end.
Despite that tension, Kerr said the Warriors and Durant avoided an awkward reunion because of how much time that has gone by since Durant’s decision to leave.
“If he hadn’t been injured and he had left in free agency and we were playing against him three months later,” Kerr said, “that would have been really weird.”
Now, as the Warriors work to complete a rebuild and Durant returns from his injury, all involved look back on the experience with appreciation.
“I miss my guys man, I can’t lie,” Durant told reporters of his former teammates.
Added Curry: “Amazing three years that we’ll remember for a lifetime.”
Kerr recalled the now-legendary shooting drills that doubled as unofficial duals between Curry and Durant. At the end of practice, both would take 25 shots — five shots from five spots — and the best score won. Often between the two all-time scorers, it took a perfect score to best the other.
This came to represent the competitive spirit of the two former MVPs. In a teaching moment, Kerr would often have his younger players stay long after practice to watch Curry and Durant finish their shooting drills.
“There’s a passion and a work-ethic that’s mesmerizing when you combine that with their routine,” Kerr said.
It’s that work-ethic that has Curry and Durant positioned to face off Tuesday night, with Curry returning from a broken hand and Durant set to play in his first meaningful game since June, 2019. Last week, Durant helped the Nets complete a 2-0 preseason, including a 113-89 route over the contending Boston Celtics in which Durant poured 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, six rebounds, three blocks and two assists in 27 minutes. Kerr was watching.
“Which was kind of scary for the rest of the league,” Kerr said. “Brooklyn really showed the potential that they have. And more than anything, I was thrilled to see Kevin look exactly the same.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors went 2-1 in their own preseason games, with Curry scoring 29 points in 29 minutes in their final win against the Kings. Unlike the Nets, the Warriors are not widely-considered title contenders. Instead, they are rebuilding in the wake of Durant’s departure, hoping to return to the playoffs after stumbling to a 15-50 record last season.
“We’re so young, but we have a good mix of veterans who complement each other,” Kerr said. “I think we’re going to be way better a month from now than we are today.”
