The 2017 and 2018 Golden State Warriors were one of the most dominant teams in the NBA history, winning back-to-back titles with arguably the most frightening teamin the league. Stellar names of that team Kevin Durant and Draymond Green have caught uprecently and opened up on many interesting subjects.
Even though we’re talking about one of the most successful teams in the league’s recent years, things didn’t end completely well as KD left as a free agent ahead of the 2018-2019 campaign.
A famous – or infamous – blowup between Durant and Green a few months earlier wasbelieved to be the reason why he joined the Brooklyn Nets at the end of that season. Both of them have reflected on the incident.
Kevin Durant says he didn’t leave the Warriors because of the argument
In a highly anticipated first episode of Bleacher Report’s Chips with Draymond Green, the Warriors star received Durant to discuss many headline-grabbing topics and break the silence on other ones.
One of the most intriguing subjects wastheirargument in the Warriors’ overtime loss against Los Angeles Clippers in November 2018. Draymond GreenaskedKD if he ended up leaving the Warriors for that reason. But Durant explained that it wasn’t the argument that led him to leave:
[Transcript via Pro Basketball Sport / NBC Sports]
“It wasn’t the argument, it was the way everybody, Steve Kerr acted like it didn’t happen, Bob Myers tried to discipline you and think that would just put the mask over everything. I really felt like that was such a big situation for us, the first time we went through something like that, we had to get that s*** all out.
“I remember watching The Last Dance, and when Scottie [Pippen] didn’t go into the game, the whole team in the locker room said ’Scottie, that was f***** up that you did that.’ We needed that. We just needed to throw all of that s*** out that you did that. We just needed to throw all of that s*** out on the table and say ‘You, Dray, K, like that was f***** up that we even had to go through that. Let’s just wipe our hands of that and go finish the task.’
“I don’t think we did that. We tried to dance around it. I just didn’t like how all of that, just the vibe between all of that. It just made s*** weird to me. And I’d rather us be who we say we are, family first. Communication is key. We didn’t show that and that’s what rubbed me the wrong way more than anything.”
Green then added he was being pressured to apologize that same night and the following morning, but that he didn’t want being forcedto do so, and he got suspended. “I laughed, literally, laughed in their face,” he said. Both agreed that the situation could have been handled better, with Green taking a shot at Bob Myers mostly while KD mentioned Steve Kerr.
In the 25 minute conversation, they’ve discussed many other topics, including Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma to join the Warriors. “I knew that’s where I wanted to be,” Durant explained.
