Almost three years after that clash on the pitch with his then teammate Draymond Green, Kevin Durant has acknowledged that it was not the altercation itself, but the fact that the franchise did not mediate to resolve the situation, which contributed to his departure to the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. “That’s why I’m out”, would then affirm, anticipating the inevitable outcome.
Now both players have blamed coach Steve Kerr and the gerente general Bob Myers for not knowing how to manage the episode. In a interview published this Wednesday in Bleacher Report, Durant and Green stated that coach and executive were not able to stop the emotional swings of the players, which led to moments of tension such as those experienced in the game held on November 12 at the Staples Center.
“It wasn’t that incident,” Durant responded to Green’s question about the weight that discussion had on their subsequent march. “It was the way everyone acted, like nothing happened. Bob Myers sanctioned you and thought that would fix everything. “
Green, who would be suspended by the franchise with a match for his role in that angry confrontation, he said he spoke to Warriors management twice after flying back to the Bay Area after that game against the Clippers. Two meetings in which the power forward showed his opinion without mincing words.
“I told them they were about to f * ck this out,” Green acknowledged. “I told them the only people who could fix that were K [Durant] and me. And that there was nothing they could do, that all they were getting was f * cking things up. And, in my opinion, they screwed up. ” A statement Durant shared: “I think so too.”
While Durant and Green seemed to get over the incident as the weeks went by, the awkward nature behind it and the apparent passivity of the franchise weighed too heavily. In addition, the matter aroused a great stir among the media, who constantly asked the team about that episode, without allowing it to heal.
In the search for previous parallels, Durant and Green compared the situation with that rupture suffered by the Chicago Bulls after their sixth championship and that was so well documented in the documentary The last dance.
“I remember seeing The Last Dance. When Scottie [Pippen] He didn’t come back to that game, the whole team in the locker room said, ‘Scottie, it was f * cked for you to do that.’ We needed that. We just had to throw all that shit on the table and talk about it. But we didn’t. We just tried to go around it, ”Green continued.
However, Draymond himself acknowledged that he already felt a certain disconnect after the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, which ended with the second championship and Finals MVP for Durant.
“In my opinion, after the second year, it was over,” Green told his former partner. “You were done and you were thinking about your next step. But we had the opportunity to do a ‘Three-peat’, and I think what kept you going to Golden State for a third year was just the opportunity to ‘Three-Peat’, but I felt that it was not all right with you ”.
Durant said his concentration was mistaken for apparent dissatisfaction with the Warriors, but admitted that he should have been more open with the group about his emotions. “My gaze didn’t feel as energetic or open as before. And I liked that, ”Durant replied. “I liked being closed and focused on my work. Although perhaps he should have communicated that to people interested in knowing what he was going through. “
Be that as it may, Durant tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, helping the championship fly to Toronto. Later, the forward decided to play for the Nets while the Warriors have not returned to step on a playoffs, much less, win another ring, also affected by the serious injuries of Klay Thompson.
(Cover photo by Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)