Kevin Durant’s final season with the Golden State Warriors remains one of the most dissected chapters in modern NBA history. Years later, the fallout from that run still lingers, not because of what the team failed to win, but because of how everything unraveled behind the scenes. In a revealing episode of All The Smoke, Durant revisited the moment that quietly fractured the dynasty.
“It really just came out of nowhere,” Durant said, reflecting on his infamous courtside spat with Draymond Green. “The play happened, I was going to get a rebound, and he came and grabbed it. I’m thinking he’s just gonna toss it to me and I run up court while I shoot the shot. When it didn’t happen, I was shocked and I told him, ‘Let me see that.’ I was so confused because he’s never done something like that before.”
“Then we came back and I heard him screaming and he’s going off,” Durant continued. “Then he started coming off the top with all of that stuff, and I’m just thinking, ‘Draymond is actually my friend.’ So for him to say that type of stuff to me just really threw me for a loop, and I started isolating myself after that.”
Durant’s time in Golden State was always complicated. On the court, it was one of the most dominant stretches the league has ever seen, with back-to-back championships and Finals MVPs in 2017 and 2018. Off the court, however, tension simmered beneath the surface, amplified by constant scrutiny over Durant’s role on a team that already had an identity before he arrived. By the time the 2018-19 season rolled around, that tension felt unavoidable, and the sideline blowup with Green became the moment everything spilled into public view.
“They suspended Draymond, but nobody talked to me about it,” Durant said. “It happened in front of the whole team, and nobody really talked about it. It was just swept under the rug. If he said that, we can move past it, but let’s all talk about it. But when that didn’t happen, I was just like f**k it, let me hoop and move on.”
That lack of communication only reinforced a narrative Durant felt boxed into throughout his Warriors tenure. Despite being the team’s best player during multiple playoff runs, he was often treated as an outsider, someone passing through rather than a true pillar of the franchise. The internal handling of the fallout only deepened that divide, making his eventual exit feel less like a surprise and more like an inevitability.
“David West came in the same time I came in, but he’s a Warrior and I’m not? Makes no sense,” Durant said. “JaVale McGee, same way. The media was trying so hard to separate this thing, and I’m just like, for what? You didn’t do that with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh, and you didn’t do that with KG and Paul Pierce.”
Durant’s legacy in Golden State remains unresolved. With averages of 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game on 52.4% shooting and 38.4% from three, he elevated an already great team into something historically overwhelming, and his elite shot-making defined the Warriors’ peak years. At the same time, his departure in 2019 left unanswered questions about what more that group could have achieved with stability and trust. Another title run, a cleaner ending, or even a long-term commitment to the franchise all remain part of the “what if” surrounding his exit.
As for his relationship with Green today, time has softened the edges. Both have acknowledged mistakes, and both have pointed more toward the organization’s handling of the situation than the argument itself. The friendship never fully disappeared, but the moment changed everything. What once felt like a temporary fracture ended up reshaping the future of the Warriors dynasty, and Durant’s words make it clear that some wounds still linger, even years later.
