Kevin Durant and Draymond Green talked about the reasons they aren’t reunited on the Warriors.
Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant joined his former teammate, and Golden State Warriors big man, Draymond Green on The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis. During the hour-long episode, Durant talked extensively about his career and was asked directly about his decision to ask for the Suns not to trade him to the Warriors at this year’s trade deadline.
“As far as the Warriors, I didn’t want to move and then as a player like me, I cost a lot,” Durant said. “Me going to your team is going to make this.. it’s going to be a whole new era for your team when I get to your team. I’m still a value, especially on my contract and my production, but me just getting up and moving in the middle of the season is going to be a big blow to any team I’m going to. I get why y’all trade me and looking at it, simply fact, that’s just business, but for me looking at it, it just don’t make sense for either side right now to go through that. You know what I’m saying? When we can just play this season out, and if that’s the decision you want to make in the offseason then, you know, you figure it out. It’s such a big change to make, and I’ve been through it before, and like, yeah it’s not really it.”
Perhaps the most interesting part of his answer came when Durant pushed back against the idea that he declined the trade because he did not want to play with Green again, who had some tense interactions with Durant throughout their tenure together. However, even in that answer, Durant seemed to hint that he was not excited about the prospect of playing with Green again.
“Then the narratives that’s going to come with all that sh*t. ‘You don’t want to go play with Draymond no more,’ ‘You don’t want to go back,’ and I was like, yeah that sh*t is annoying and I don’t like it, but I can play under any [circumstance].”
The Warriors are undeniably happy with the early returns on the Jimmy Butler, but it’s no secret that the organization nearly made a different blockbuster move at the NBA trade deadline. It’s been confirmed by several different reporters that the Warriors, Suns, and Miami Heat had agreed in principle to a three-team trade that would have sent Jimmy Butler to the Suns and Kevin Durant to the Warriors.