Kevin Durant putting in a trade request while having 4-years left in his $198 million contract has wreaked havoc in the basketball world.
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While it has been shocking for both fans and the NBA media alike, the current players believe that they should exercise that kind of power because it’s them who make the NBA.
One among them, and the most vocal of the lot, is Warriors forward Draymond Green. The host of The Draymond Green Show is a significant reason why KD left Golden State after winning two chips in 3 years. But he is now one of the biggest supporters of the Slim Reaper for his recent decision.
“People can’t accept the fact that athletes are now businessmen and no longer just playing basketball.”
Draymond Green on Kevin Durant making the best “business” decision for his career 🔥pic.twitter.com/ps3k6GhaFD
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 7, 2022
The 2017 DPOY has been defending his former teammate and 4x Champ since the Nets were eliminated in the first round of last season’s Playoffs, and NBA media led by Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith swarmed the Nets’ leading man.
When the offseason started, and Durant came up with his trade request, which didn’t even sit well with most former players and Draymond’s colleagues on Inside the NBA, the Warriors’ floor general didn’t sit back.
He responded to Charles Barkley and many others asking KD to lead a team to a championship for once by saying it’s just pure business. A veteran analyst has responded to that very point with a reasonable argument.
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker trash Draymond Green’s defence of Kevin Durant, citing Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson’s example
On The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker, the veteran analysts discussed how former players like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson made a fortune despite making career money on the court equivalent to what players like Durant nowadays make in a year but still stayed loyal to their teams.
“This is what I’m tired of. Draymond acting like he and this generation of athletes are just inventing all this stuff. We’re businessmen today? Michael Jordan wasn’t a businessman?” asked Broussard.
“He’s still a businessman, and he’s a billionaire,” answered Parker.
“He owns a basketball team,” Broussard continued. “Jordan brand is still destroying all the current players in terms of their shoe sales and their merchandise sales.”
Parker then brought up the Lakers legend to the discussion, to which Chris said, “here’s how much of a business Magic Johnson was. Magic Johnson made about $40 million playing in the NBA. He’s now worth about $700 million. He went from making about 40 million to now being worth $6-700 million. Not through basketball, through business.”
The duo of Fox Sports’ analysts are not wrong here. The way we see the game will never be the same if players would not even play 4-5 years for the franchises they wanted to play for in the first place when they left their initial teams.
Earlier it mainly used to be the role players who would move around the league searching for more money and Championships. But several players stayed ringless, and many became broke years after their NBA chapter ended, so Green is also right in siding with players prioritising their future.
