For a couple of years now, a rumor suggested that Draymond Green had called Kevin Durant crying at the Oracle Arena parking lot trying to recruit him following the 2016 NBA Finals. That year, the Golden State Warriors lost a 3-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won their first-ever NBA championship after a memorable series.
That rumor got bigger over the years and a lot of people are convinced that was the case until yesterday when Durant released his conversation with Green on his podcast ‘The ETCs.’ Dray joined his former teammate to talk about a variety of topics, including his plans after he retires from basketball, their infamous on-court incident in 2018, and how the league has changed since their rookie seasons to this day.
They also touched this story and KD denied that Green had called him asking him to join the Warriors with tears in his eyes. It seems like people made it bigger than it was but the 2x NBA champion said that they exchanged a couple of text messages and that was it.
Via NBC Sports:
Durant: “I done heard a couple stories. From my end, we sent some texts on just, ‘Yo, I seen that? You seen that? Alright, bet. That’s really what it was, bro. It wasn’t no urgent FaceTime call. It was exactly what I just said. ‘Yo, you see what just happened?’ ‘Bet. Alright, I’m on the way.’
Green: “That’s exactly what it was. It was this whole narrative of, ‘You called Kevin crying from the parking lot.’ I’m like, ‘Yo, this s–t can … like y’all added a theatrical sense to make this s–t a movie. You got to make s–t for TV, but you got to add on a little bit. So people just started pouring on bro, but I wasn’t about to come out and fight it. However y’all think Kevin got here in your mind, just roll with that if that’s what helps you out.”
Durantula also remembered that he was heavily criticized by OKC fans because he was allegedly hanging out with Green during the Western Conference Finals the Thunder lost the same fashion the Warriors would in the Finals.
Durant: “Also, with OKC fans, they thought me and Dray was literally hanging with each other chilling during the conference finals. When I heard that s–t, I was like, ‘What the f–k? Who do y’all think I am? Do y’all think Draymond would hang out with me over at the conference finals?’ Come on, stop the bulls–t.”
This was something more than just Green sending a text to KD to join his team. The Warriors had a big plan to try to lure the 2014 NBA MVP in 2016 and it worked. They dropped big bombs, showed what kind of team KD would be joining and that sealed the deal for them. Still, you could say they planted the seed with those messages between Green and Durant.
