Kevin Durant couldn’t have signed with Warriors if they won title

NBA News – Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors was one of the highest-profile offseason moves in NBA history. There’s been a lot of talk about his decision, and, more specifically, how he came to his decision.

Speculation on the relationship between Durant and Russell Westbrook has been highly discussed as well. Not just when they were teammates, but in the aftermath of Durant’s decision to leave for the Bay Area.

Those questions received some answers in a sprawling Rolling Stone cover story. During the interview, Durant says that after the Thunder had lost Game 7 to the Warriors, he had it in his mind that there was a chance he could end up playing with the team that just knocked them off:

Some part of Durant knew he’d already punched his ticket. “It felt like that whole thing was set up for me to leave,” he says, “especially after they blew a lead in the finals, because I damn sure wasn’t going there if they’d won. But after Game Seven, I called up my agent and said, ‘Damn, dude, Golden State – what if?’ ”
Durant also admits that he and Westbrook were not as close as many suspected:

As close as people presumed he and Westbrook had been, they were never much more than work friends, he says. “We had our own cliques that we hung with on the road. Russell had his guys, I had mine. It was never a bad thing. Just how it was.” For the guy who’d grown up friendless through grade school and preps, the pull of those stars and their shared affection must have felt like a welcome banner. All his life, he’d been walking alone, a party of one in the desert. Now, at last, his tribe called out to him. Who among us could have said no?
Back in May, when Durant and Westbrook were in the beginning of their playoff run against the Dallas Mavericks, SB Nation’s Tim Cato documented the relationship between the two. Durant’s tone was a lot different then. “I see him more than I see my family, and vice versa,” Durant said. “It’s a special bond we have and we continue to keep growing as players.”

That bond appeared to be a two-way street. In April, Westbrook was appreciative of Durant backing him when Mark Cuban said he wasn’t a superstar. “Me and Kevin’s relationship is great,” Westbrook told The Oklahoman. “He’s like my brother. We talk about different stuff, not just basketball related. He’s always gonna have my back and I’ll always have his.”

These certainly bring into question the idea of them merely having a “work relationship.”

Still, in his meeting with the Warriors, Durant noticed that “they just liked each other so much and were so relaxed,” he told Rolling Stone. “I thought, ‘These are some chill-ass dudes I wouldn’t mind hooping with.’ I wasn’t even asking, ‘How do we play together?’ I was asking, ‘Where do y’all go eat, do y’all hang out together?'”

Although the bond between players stood out when he met with the Warriors, that didn’t make Durant’s decision any easier. He got emotional in his call to Thunder GM Sam Presti, telling him that he was going to Golden State. But he merely texted Westbrook, and when asked why, he just shrugged.

It’s fair to say that while he didn’t claim it to be a huge issue, Durant found more comfort in the atmosphere the Warriors presented as a unit.

Making a decision to make himself happy was new for Durant. “All my life, I’ve been a pleaser,” he told Rolling Stone. “Put everyone else ahead of me.”

This was the summer that broke the trend. He told his mother that he couldn’t do it anymore, and he didn’t. That shouldn’t please Thunder fans, but Durant is clearly done with doing things just to please people.

Category: Basketball