Kevin Durant’s decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 to join Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on the Golden State Warriors continues to be one of the most polarizing moves in NBA history.
It ultimately resulted in Durant winning two championships, capturing two NBA Finals MVPs, and making it to three NBA Finals.
In the process, however, Durant went from overwhelming fan favorite to something of a bandwagon ring-chaser in the eyes of some.
This week, Durant sat down with Green during a segment for Bleacher Report’s “Chips” series. In it, he went into great detail regarding his decision to leave OKC for The Bay.
“It was a basketball decision, but I also didn’t give a f**k,” he said.
“I felt like I was absolutely the perfect fit on both sides of the ball for the Warriors and I felt like my game reached a point where I had to really see what that looked like. I felt like that move was a no-brainer. I always knew that I wanted to end up in Golden State even though I had to go through the process of all those meetings. Just the way you guys handled yourselves in interviews, the way you guys played, I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”
Durant concluded by reaffirming that he had no regrets: “I would do that sh*t a million times,” he said.
It’s hard to argue with Durant’s logic. The move made him a champion and cemented his place as a league all-time great. That said, it also brought him some negative attention that follows him around to this day. It’s unlikely that there would be stories about him creeping on Carmelo Anthony’s ex-wife or investigations into his weed-smoking issues if he weren’t such a magnet for negative press.
LaMelo Ball emerges as an early frontrunner for the 2021-22 NBA MVP Award. https://t.co/sSeA2JNkAf
— Game 7 (@game7__) August 18, 2021
And he became a magnet for that sort of media scrutiny after joining the Warriors.
Were the two championships worth the attention Durant has faced since leaving the Thunder? To hear him tell it – apparently so.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
