Getty Kevin Durant admitted that Draymond Green played a factor in his exit from the Warriors.
Kevin Durant did not sugarcoat things when asked about why he ended up leaving the Warriors over the offseason. During an interview on ESPN’s First Take, Durant admitted his heated exchange with Draymond Green early last season was a factor in his exit from the Warriors.
“A little bit, yeah, for sure,” Durant noted on ESPN. “I mean, your teammate talks to you that way, you think about it a bit. Like I said, we talked about it. Definitely [played a role], for sure, I am not going to lie about that.”
Durant went on to detail the main reasons he left Golden State for Brooklyn citing the team’s salary cap situation along with the age of key players as contributing factors.
“I just felt like I needed a switch,” Durant explained to ESPN. “I felt like a lot of stuff at Golden State had ran its head. I just felt like that was going to be the end no matter what. Especially for that group, Shaun Livingston was retiring. Andre Iguodala is getting older. Our contracts were going to stifle the team and put us in the hole to get other players. It was time for all of us to kind of separate.”
Here is a look at the video clip of Durant discussing the argument with Green.
“Definitely. For sure. I’m not gonna lie about it.”
–Kevin Durant on if his heated exchange with Draymond Green was a factor in his decision to leave the Warriors
(via @firsttake)
Green Recently Called Durant His “Brother”
Green does not appear to be angry about Durant’s exit and recently told ESPN’s The Jump that he considered the All-Star a “brother.” Green admitted he found out about Durant signing with the Nets the same way fans did through media reports.
“I actually talked to K yesterday,” Green said, per NBC Sports. “That’s my brother. If someone would have told me, ‘Man, Kevin Durant’s gonna come to the Warriors and you guys are going to win two championships and then have a shot at winning a third, would you take that?’ In a heartbeat. That was a major success. I found out that he was picking Brooklyn when everybody else found out, which is exactly how it should be.”
KD Does Not Plan to Play This Season
One of the other things Durant revealed in the ESPN interview were his plans to sit out the entire season. Durant is still recovering from a torn Achilles injury he sustained in the NBA finals while he was with the Warriors. Nets fans will have to wait until the 2021 season to see Durant make his Brooklyn debut. Durant also responded to criticism about his personality.
“”I think that’s what a lot of people try to say is that I wasn’t assertive in putting Russ in his place, but my whole thing was to let these guys grow and be creative in their own space,” Durant noted on ESPN.