Kevin Durant recently had an eye-opening conversation with Draymond Green, with perhaps the spiciest conversation being about his decision to leave GSW.
Advertisement
Durant had a weird last season with the Golden State Warriors. Despite being the most dominant team in the NBA from 2017-2019, rumors started to swirl that 2019 would Durant’s final year with the Warriors.
All those rumors made for a a turbulent last season fueled by spats with his teammates and an extremely unfortunate end to the dynasty that was marked by injuries. At the end of the day, Durant definitely had a great three years in Golden State, but according to him, his most enjoyable year was certainly his first one.
Kevin Durant Details The Excitement Behind His First Year With The Warriors To Draymond Green
When Durant made the shocking move to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, the NBA world was in shock. Not only was Durant joining a team that had just gone 73-9 with all their stars in the primes of their career, they had also just eliminated Durant’s Thunder in the playoffs.
Durant was labelled a villain, a snake, a traitor, every negative word you can think of, Durant was that. In a single decision, he changed the landscape of the NBA for the next few years. The 2016-17 Warriors may have even been more dominant than the team that just went 73-9.
The Warriors won 67 games that year, easily taking the number one seed in the Western Conference. The Warriors big three clicked early, and the success carried over into the postseason. The Warriors wouldn’t lose a single game in the Western Conference, sweeping the Trailblazers, Jazz, and Spurs in consecutive series.
In the NBA Finals, they made quick work of the Cleveland Cavaliers own big three featuring LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love as they finished them off in just five games. Durant would win Finals MVP drilling one of the most gut-wrenching shots in NBA Finals history to effectively seal the series.
Overall, the Warriors went 16-1 in that postseason. There was no stopping them. Of course, a large part of their success was attributed to signing a top two player like Durant, but it was also because of how well Durant adapted to his role.
As KD mentions to Draymond in their conversation, that year with Golden State was the first time Durant knew exactly who he needed to be on the court and what role he needed to embody. That led to a completely different side of him, a much more dominant one. You can watch the interview here with the overall conversation starting at 6:30.
Durant speaks about the role and also about how that first year with Golden State was the most enjoyable experience he had in his NBA career.
