Kevin Durant is the main headline-grabber of the 2022 offseason after his decision to request a trade from the Brooklyn Nets hours before the beginning of free agency last week. We are still awaiting a resolution on the KD sweepstakes, but it seems that the Nets are in no rush to trade KD for anything less than what the Minnesota Timberwolves paid to trade for Rudy Gobert.
Due to the influence KD had in Brooklyn and the bold proclamations of a championship dynasty, people haven’t been happy with Durant requesting a trade. Many are attacking KD for this decision and calling him weak for trying to force his way out of another situation and make his way to a team better positioned to contend.
KD’s old Warriors teammate Draymond Green addressed the situation on his podcast and extended his support to Durant on this decision and questioned why everyone is quick to attack athletes when they want to switch teams.
“The whole narrative starts ‘KD is running from this’, ‘it gets hard, so he doesn’t stay’, and blah blah blah. I sat there and asked myself, ‘if KD did indeed request a trade, is that KD saying partially, I made a mistake?’
I answered the question for myself because obviously I am not going to ask Kevin that. 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.
If a guy leaves Google to go to Apple after 3 or 4 years. Then they leave Apple after two years to go to Tesla and then they leave Tesla after 4 years to go to Docusign. No one is going to say that person ran. Every person is going to say they did the best for their career and livelihoods. But us, as athletes, it’s never viewed that way and it’s baffling to me.”
Draymond has represented the Warriors his entire career, so he may not have ever wanted to leave the team. However, he does understand the situations other players are in that motivate them to request a trade. The reason the Warriors have so many loyal players on the team is because the Warriors have always put their players in the best position to win.
The situation in Brooklyn is a lot more confusing. The Nets did everything they could to be competitive, but it hasn’t stuck for a variety of reasons. With the reluctance by the team to extend Kyrie Irving, the man who convinced KD to join the team, KD decided he didn’t want to stay in that situation.
The decision is ultimately KD’s, and he has never been shy to make a decision that is best for his career but would make him unpopular in the eyes of the fans and the media.
