If the Golden State Warriors’ route to five consecutive NBA Finals captures a documentary, there’s a strong chance Kevin Durant will be a compelling focal point in the film. From his arrival to his exit, Durant was a polarizing character during his three seasons in the Bay Area.
Durant helped bring two championships to Golden State, taking home Finals Most Valuable Player awards with each ring. However, his final season in Oakland ended in a different fashion than it started.
The 10-time All-Star’s closing minutes with the Warriors came in game five of the Finals against the Toronto Raptors. Durant suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury in the second quarter in Toronto. The former Most Valuable Player hit free agency in the summer and left the Bay Area for Brooklyn.
Throughout the 2018-19 season, Durant’s imminent free agency decision loomed over the Warriors. Where he would play in 2019-20 was a consistent question.
Draymond Green joined Maverick Carter and Paul Rivera on Uninterrupted’s “WRTS: The After Party,” for an interview. The former Defensive Player of the Year spoke about “The Last Dance” documentary series and similarities between Golden State’s recent run and the Jordan era Bulls.
Green credited Phil Jackson for acknowledging 1997-98 could be the final run for the Bulls. According to Green, there was a looming “elephant in the room” in Golden State due to uncertainty with player’s contracts, specifically Durant’s handling of his impending free agency.
Via @uninterrupted on Twitter:
Our situation was a little bit different. From the standpoint of it was contracts on players. It wasn’t necessarily the organization. For instance, Kevin [Durant] took the one year deal on his own, so that was kind of the elephant in the room.
And although Steve’s approach was like ‘hey guys let’s enjoy this year because we don’t know what next year brings,’ you got, Kevin’s contract, you got Klay’s [Thompson] contract. And I kind of got thrown in that contract thing although I had another year after that year, which was this year. And so that was kind of the elephant in the room. And although Steve would kind of hit on it of like, ‘let’s just enjoy this year for what it is because we don’t know what the next year holds’ — it didn’t carry necessarily the same weight.
Because what should have happened was Kevin come out and say ‘hey man, like this is it like so, let’s do this’ or, ‘this isn’t it.’ You know what I’m saying? But you can’t just leave the elephant in the room.
Because what happened was, the question came to us every day. Every time we spoke to the media, Klay and myself were asked about our contract, and it was strictly due to Kevin. Because while that was going on, Klay was saying, ‘I want to be a Warrior forever, like I want to be here we started this thing — this is where I want to be.’ I’m saying, ‘I want to be here for my career, we started this, we built this — I want to finish my career here with the guys I started it with.’ And then you kind of had Kevin, like, ‘I don’t know what I’m gonna do next year,’ and it don’t matter, but it does matter because you’re not the only person that has to answer that question.
(WARNING: video contains strong language NSFW)
“Due to that, there was always an elephant in the room” @Money23Green explains how KD’s contract uncertainty impacted the @warriors last season.
Full conversation with @mavcarter & @pr_rwtw: https://t.co/0G4ldwQr75 #WRTS #AfterParty pic.twitter.com/AmQCy7doCe
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) April 21, 2020
Until the Warriors get their own edition of “The Last Dance,” there will always be questions regarding the season that ended with the Warriors losing the chance of a three-peat.
After signing a free-agent deal with the Brooklyn Nets, Durant is still recovering from his Finals injury. He will have to wait until the 2020-21 season to have a reunion with Green and the rest of his former Golden State teammates on the court.
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