In the words of Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors are currently on ‘Cloud 109’, having won their 4th NBA championship in 8 years against all odds. The team failed to make the playoffs in the last 2 seasons, with many writing them off and suggesting that they would never get close to winning an NBA title again.
However, Stephen Curry, boosted by the return of Klay Thompson and the emergence of Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, was able to carry his team back to the promised land, winning his first Finals MVP in the process. And, in the aftermath, there were questions about the man that won Finals MVP the last two times the Warriors won the championship, Kevin Durant.
Draymond Green, another instrumental member of the roster and the Warriors’ voice in the media, thanks to his podcast, addressed the situation with KD leaving the franchise to team up with Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets (via Yahoo Sports):
“There’s always things you want to prove. Ultimately, when Kevin came here, the main person who has to sign off on that is Steph. So to open your door, to open your arms and accept someone with open arms, and it goes great and it’s short-lived, it’s a slap in the face.
“Not necessarily a slap in the face, when someone chooses to do something else. But a slap in the face like, ‘I opened my home to you. I brought you into this. I made you a part of this. I wanted you to be a part of this until we couldn’t do it no more. Then when you wanna do something else.’ No hard feelings, no ill will, want you to do great no matter what. It’s a brotherhood.
“But … you’re a competitor and the competitor in you is going to want to prove you wrong, want to show you that you made a mistake.”
Durant himself spoke out on Twitter after he was bombarded with tweets and such following the Warriors’ win. While KD is secure in the knowledge that he is a champion and one of the best scorers the game has seen, this one surely has to sting a little bit for the Nets star. And while things may not have ended in the best way, Durant’s contribution to the Golden State Warriors dynasty seems set in stone.
