More than a week after his much–discussed on-court confrontation with Draymond Green took place in Los Angeles, Kevin Durant tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he’s ready to move on from that incident, adding that it will have no bearing on his free agency decision during the summer of 2019.
“Nah, [it won’t factor],” Durant said on Tuesday. “Because at the end of the day, I’m just a ballplayer that’s just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that once the game starts, I’m just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me.”
Durant spoke at length to Haynes about the aftermath of the altercation, which he says he didn’t consider as serious as everyone else made it out to be. While the two-time Finals MVP admits he was upset in the moment, he tells Haynes it didn’t take long to put the whole thing in perspective.
“I was upset, but I know that I can’t hold on to something like this,” Durant said. “I know that I’ve got to make a choice with myself, like how long are you going to be upset about this to the point where you’re going to let it affect what you do on the floor or how you approach the game? Once it gets there now, I got to make a grown-man decision and tell myself, ‘Look, man, no matter what, you still got to come to work every single day. It’s going to work out. It’s going to figure itself out.’ And I think everyone’s been handling it the best way they could and we’re just trying to move forward with it.”
Durant has a player option for 2019/20, but is expected to turn it down to become an unrestricted free agent. He’ll have full Bird rights at that point, meaning he could sign a five-year deal with the Warriors. He could get up to four years from any other team, and several big-market clubs around the NBA expect to have significant cap room, including the Knicks, Nets, Clippers, and Lakers.
There has already been plenty of speculation about Durant’s eventual decision, and last week’s incident only helped to create more “outside” noise, which the star forward suggests has been more frustrating than the confrontation itself.
“It’s always going to come back,” Durant said to Haynes. “Like, ‘Are they all right? Man, he didn’t play well. Is he going to leave?’ Why do I even have to think about that at this point? … Then it turned into, ‘K.D.’s going to this place, he doesn’t like the Warriors no more. He should go here, he should go there.’ More distractions.”
Hey KD you would look great in a Mavericks uniform, you can curse at the crowd for a whole season I’m sure the Dallas crowd would love that. Plus you can replace Barnes.
Wont impact decision because he is going to lakers. Lebron and kd had private dinners in los angeles during the summer. Why else would lebron be cool with coming to a starless lakers when he has been notorious for needs stars beside him?
LeBron and KD would have great chemistry being Durant is a scorer and LeBron is a bit of everything so I could definitely see him going to the Lakers. Golden State is falling apart, Green has made a toxic environment and Steph and Klay are in toxic puddle right now unfortunately.
Durant stays only if Draymond gets traded at the deadline, I’d bet everything in my wallet Durant goes to Utah.
Uh Lebron got a huge payday, he has nothing left to prove and wants to make more connections in Hollywood for his businesses after the NBA. He does not care about stars on the court in L.A.
KD will go to whomever pays him the most, so his current team has a decision to make regarding paying tax for 5 years or more. I suspect it will be a bottom line decision, if they believe he will justify the contract with revenue returns they will do it, if not then not.
My guess is Draymond moves on and gets paid somewhere else, Klay and Steph finish their careers there, with a supporting cast of whatever ring-chasing vets are available for the minimum.
LeBron has his flaws. But I have to give him and his “peeps” credit for how they’re about to orchestrate player movement in the NBA. I see a Super team forming in LA next year. They’ll win a couple pointless championships before it’s broken up by money issues. Still won’t change what people think about him (not the GOAT).
You right the one & only GOAT is… Larry Bird
in today’s nba Larry would’ve averaged 60/ game
Alright kids, here’s your homework assignment: go Youtube any game where Bird and Jordan faced each other. Get back to me on who the GOAT is. I’ll wait…
Lol bird couldnt even beat magic with loaded celtics rosters. 3-2 in finals. 1-2 verus magic magic also had all time record of 11-7. Stay off the weed kids.