When Kevin Durant had an opportunity to rejoin his former Warriors teammates this season, he rejected the chance in favor of staying with the Phoenix Suns. During a recent appearance on the Draymond Green show, Durant explained the decision and clarified why this February was not the right time to return to Golden State.
“I want my career to end on my terms, that’s the only thing,” said Durant. “I see a lot of dudes that don’t get that opportunity so I want to put in that work to make that choice on my own. But as far as the Warriors, I didn’t want to move. And then as a player, I cost a lot. Me going into your team in the middle of the season, it’s going to be a big blow to any team I’m going to. I get why y’all want to trade me — the simple fact is that’s just business.”
Durant, 36, played three seasons as a Warrior (2016-17 to 2018-19) and they stand as his most successful stretch to date. But to acquire Durant, the Warriors would have had to gut their entire team, even more so than they had to for Jimmy Butler.
“It just doesn’t make sense right now for either side to go through that when we can play the season out, and if that’s the decision you want to make in the off-season, then we’ll figure it out,” said Durant. “If I can stop it, why not? And then the narratives that’s gonna come with all that sh*t. I can play under the noise but I didn’t feel there was a need to make that big of a change.”
Initially, fans thought Durant was still holding a grudge against the Warriors over his departure from 2019. Specifically, Draymond Green (4x champion) was blamed as the source of Durant’s problems with the franchise.
We now know that Draymond had nothing to do with Durant’s decision. Despite their previous beef, the two are on good terms and Kevin has nothing personal against the franchise where he became a champion.
At this stage of his career, after changing teams multiple times for various reasons, Durant wants to see this through with the Suns at least until the end of this season. He chose to sign in Phoenix and tie his future to an organization with a minimal history of playoff success.
To make matters worse, the Suns are currently not on track to make the playoffs despite a healthy core of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. Even with averages of 26.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game from Durant this season, the Suns are only 11th in the West with a 27-31 record.
If the situation fails to improve this season, Durant may very well be on the way out to land with a more relevant organization and multiple teams will be ready to make an offer.
For now, however, Durant is committed to Phoenix and he still believes they can compete with the top teams in the league.
The Warriors, meanwhile, settled for Jimmy Butler and it’s proving to be the right decision so far. With Stephen Curry on a tight timeline, they needed to make a move right away and Jimmy’s impact has been invaluable for them with averages of 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game on 45.8% shooting.
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