Kevin Durant and Draymond Green may not have departed on the best of terms back in 2019, but it is apparently not enough to stop Draymond from defending his former teammate.
In the latest installment of his podcast (the Draymond Green Show), Dray dedicated a segment to Durant and his situation in Brooklyn, defending the 2x champion against the haters and critics who are accusing him of running from the grind.
“People can’t accept the fact that athletes are now businessmen and no longer just playing basketball. At some point, people have to realize and be able to accept the fact that athletes are businessmen and we make business moves and decisions because you are operating a business.”
“To start calling somebody weak and they run from challenges, that’s baffling to me, because that man has worked his entire life to be in that position to where he controls where he goes next. By the way, everyone in the NBA can’t control where they go next. So, to be in that position and to have the opportunity to control what you do next, that’s the American dream.”
"People can’t accept the fact that athletes are now businessmen and no longer just playing basketball."
—Draymond Green on KD’s decision to request a trade 💪
(via @TheVolumeSports) pic.twitter.com/D07JpF5vhF
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 7, 2022
KD officially requested a trade earlier this month and put the NBA’s two best teams at the top of his preferred destinations. Since then, it has been a bitter race to acquire the multiple-time All-Star.
And as fans and media members lay into Durant for quitting on his team, Draymond is reminding everybody just how much power these players have nowadays.
“I answered the question for myself because obviously I am not going to ask Kevin that,” Green said on KD’s trade request. “I answered it for myself and I said ‘possibly yes, possibly no.’ But regardless, why does it matter? If Kevin Durant says I don’t want to be here anymore and go somewhere else, why does that make him weak? Why does that mean he’s running from something? I don’t understand that. Players are in control of their situation. Players are in control of their destiny. That’s the next step in his career.”
You can’t blame Durant for exercising the power that the modern NBA has given him. If you’re a star of his caliber, why stay in a situation like Brooklyn, where off-court antics have completely overshadowed on-court production?
Durant is just trying to win, and it must be clear to him now that it’s going to be tough to do that as a member of the Nets.
