Former Golden State Warriors guard, Quinn Cook was recently on the Captain Jack Podcast. Appearing on the show for the first time, the former NBA player disclosed several previously unknown facts about the league. Cook played for seven years [per Basketball Reference], with most of his significant minutes coming on the Championship-era Warriors.
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Cook joined the Warriors during the 2016-17 season, as a back-up guard on the squad. And it just so happened that this was around the same time as the 2014 MVP, Kevin Durant did as well.
While on the Captain Jack Podcast, the former Warriors guard addressed the ‘chemistry issue’ that his former team faced during the 2017-18 season. Talking about the same, Cook told his hosts,
“It didn’t affect our game. It’s just our guys were tired of it. Coach Kerr, I remember saying that he played with the Bulls and Jordan when they were trying to win their second three-peat. He also played with the Spurs, the GM of the Suns, so he’s been around basketball royalty. But that 2019 year, he said he’s never seen a team so closely scrutinized. Like every single day, it was something. When KD and Draymond got into it on the bench, that kind of puts some stuff on our team, and imma say Golden State didn’t handle it right.”
Cook also provided an interesting insight into the situation, as the veteran guard pointed out how the situation could have been solved amicably. The 2015 NCAA Champion emphasized the importance of proper communication, as he believes that “as men” all the players on the squad could have hashed out their problems, had they been given a chance to do so.
It is a bit shocking to know that the problems got as bad as they did within the team. Most only remember Kevin Durant and Draymond Green’s public spat on the court, and often hail it as the sole reason for a rift caused in the locker room. However, not only were there countless incidents to follow, but they could have also all been solved through nothing more than simple communication.
Unfortunately for Warriors fans, Kerr and the management would fail to ensure this, losing Durant and, consequently, a plethora of possible Championships in the process.
Kevin Durant and Draymond Green blame Warriors management for the falling out
It’s no secret that Kevin Durant departed from the Warriors for reasons other than just ‘basketball’. Durant’s infamous altercation with teammate Draymond Green back in November 2018, would just be the starting of a very long dispute, which resulted in Durant leaving the Warriors after achieving back-to-back Championships in 2017 and 2018.
Looking back at the incident during a 2022 Bleacher Report interview, both Draymond and Durant ended up blaming Warriors management for the team’s falling out. Airing out his opinion, Durant said,
“It wasn’t the argument…It was the way that everybody, (coach) Steve Kerr, tried to act like it didn’t happen. (General manager) Bob Myers tried to just discipline you [Draymond Green] and think that that would put a mask over everything.”
Agreeing with his former teammate, Green added to the discussion by saying,
“In my opinion, they f—ed it up…They’re like, ‘We’re going to suspend you for this game.’ I laughed. I laughed in their face, and Bob said to me, he said, ‘Wow, that was not the reaction I was looking for or expected.’ I said, ‘Well, either I’m gonna laugh in your face or I’m gonna cuss you the f— out.’ So it’s interesting to hear you [Durant] say essentially the same thing that I told them that day.”
As the former Golden State Warriors teammates agreed, the franchise did not go the extra mile in creating a situation where Draymond Green and Kevin Durant could have an open conversation with each other. However, that said, not all the blame can be placed on them, as both Durant and Green are grown adults, and one of them should have approached the other as well. With so many conflicting factors, it is no wonder that the locker room was dysfunctional by just the third season.
