After Monday’s in-game blowup between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, the Warriors may have to make some drastic changes in order to keep the second best player in the league when he enters free agency after this season.
According to Skip Bayless on Undisputed, “There is no way that Golden State is going to have any hope of keeping Kevin Durant after this year, unless they trade Draymond sooner than later. Before the trade deadline, Draymond has to go.”
If Draymond has even a lick of the same understanding of the situation, then the blowup after regulation on Monday starts to make even more sense. Green was a central part of the Warriors’ hard-built dominance; KD came on after everything was already coasting. And now he threatens to supplant the incumbent Green.
It’s almost Shakespearean. Deadspin’s Albert Burneko may have put it best:
In effect, it is very much like [Green] is being asked to compete with the world’s second-best player for his own spot on the only team he’s ever played for, the team where he transformed himself from a lumpy second-rounder to a (still-lumpy) core player, champion, all-star, and Defensive Player of the Year. And now the world’s second-best player is giving him the Mario Chalmers Treatment in front of the whole damn league. You can imagine that stinging a bit.
It’s an echo of what The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II reported earlier this morning. During the argument, “Green…went on to make it clear he’s been making plays for years,” and didn’t appreciate being treated like a scrub by the relative-newcomer Durant.
Someone is feeling threatened. And it’s not Durant.
Green’s Suspension is a White Flag to Durant
GettyGolden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant will likely be a free agent in 2019.
Having been suspended for a game following the altercation–an altercation which erupted after a terrible decision-making play in the final seconds of regulation–the clear loser here is Draymond, and his fears about being dropped in favor of KD are probably all the more likely.
Green’s suspension, especially, is a white flag to Durant. It’s a way the management can show how much they value him–and, specifically, how much they value him over Draymond. Talk about twisting the knife.
If it comes down to Draymond vs KD as free agency looms, you can expect the Warriors to do everything they can to keep the former MVP over the former DPOY every time. Draymond knows that, the Warriors front office knows that; all that’s left is making sure Kevin Durant knows, too.
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Warriors May Have to Choose Between KD and Draymond