Kevin Durant is still in Brooklyn after his trade request dominated the news for most of the summer. No one was willing to meet the Nets‘ high asking price, but Stephen Curry tells Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone that he would have gladly welcomed Durant back to the Warriors.
Golden State was believed to be in a strong position to bid for Durant because of the team’s collection of young talent and draft assets. Curry revealed that there was “a conversation internally” involving Warriors management and selected players about pursuing a trade, and he was completely on board.
“I was never hesitant,” Curry said. “The idea of playing with KD and knowing who he is as a person, from our history in those three years, I think KD’s a really good dude. I think he is misunderstood. I think he has had certain things happen in his life that hurt his ability to trust people around him, in a sense of making him feel safe at all times. So all of those things, I understand, having played with him and gotten to know him. I love that dude.
“And if you said, ‘Oh, KD’s coming back, and we’re gonna play with him,’ I had so much fun playing with him those three years, I’d be like, ‘Hell, yeah!’ Then you have to think: What does that actually mean? What does it look like? You tell me I’m playing with [Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, and Draymond Green], I’m like, ‘Hell, yeah!’ There’s all types of emotion and things that happen to the league. And if anybody’s saying that you wouldn’t entertain that conversation — no disrespect to anybody on our team — but you don’t know how things work. But you also understand, like, if we run this thing back, I’ve got complete confidence in my team that we can win it again, as constructed.
“So, all those things were true. And it started with me wanting to play with KD at the beginning. Yeah, it’s about winning, it’s about having fun, playing the game of basketball. And that was part of the reaction of, like, ‘Yeah, it’d be amazing.’ What does that actually mean?”
The Warriors were extremely successful during Durant’s three years with the franchise, winning two NBA titles and losing in the 2019 Finals amid bad luck with injuries. He averaged 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists over those three seasons and was named Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018.
However, Durant was heavily criticized for his 2016 free agency decision to join Warriors, who were coming off a record-setting regular season and a seven-game loss in the NBA Finals. There were also outward signs of unhappiness, especially in his final year in the Bay Area. Durant ultimately made the decision to head to Brooklyn when he became a free agent again after the 2018/19 season.
One of Durant’s current Nets teammates is Seth Curry, who said he talked to his brother about the possibility of Durant returning to Golden State.
“For him to even be entertaining the thought of having KD back on the team kind of speaks to his character,” Seth told Rolling Stone in July. “Who knows? I might be in the trade with him.”
Sullivan also recounts a conversation that Stephen Curry had with Snoop Dogg regarding what Curry viewed as Durant’s unrealistic expectations of how much talent a team would have remaining after trading for him. Curry concluded that under the circumstances, Durant’s best move was to stay with Brooklyn.
Obviously lol he’s prob a top10 player all time, anybody would wanna play with him
Nah, he’s emotionally unstable and is a quitter, not to mention getting old and injury proned. He couldnt get it done with Kyrie, Harden…. He needs to take ownership..
Never quit. In fact he came back early from a serious injury to try to help his team win its 3rd title in a row, only to get hurt again. That’s actually the exact opposite of quitting. Put his body/career/hundreds of millions of $ on the line to help his team. Lol if you can’t appreciate KD’s greatness then who could you possibly like that plays basketball? Not just u, but for your alts & anyone else that hates KD. Basketball players don’t come any better than him. You’re not gonna like anybody if you don’t like him
Used to be a huge fan of KD and didnt appreciate GS playing him when he was injured in that game, but disgusted with what’s been transpiring at Brooklyn. KD needs to take ownership of everything at Nets especially his fellow players.
But 1st you should take ownership of the fact that you were never a huge fan of KD. Healthier to just go ahead & admit that, at least to yourself
Still mystefied why Kerr played KD the full quarter in that game instead of 7-8 minutes and rest…. And Nets couldnhave easily won the title instead of Bucks. Kyrie took way too many games off that season which led to his ankle injury, and KD and Harden played way many minutes against Bucks. Had they played less anf trusted their teammates more, Nets would have beaten the Bucks and title. It would have transformed KD’s legacy to the LJ’s level instead of the current chaos. :(
KD’s legacy as 1 of the very best basketball players ever is extremely secure. It’s a trip the way yall view these guys. It’s hard for me to understand what motivates yall to even pay attention to basketball/nba… other than to hate on these guys ofc
Have you ever considered that the narratives pushed across every single platform are focused on painting targets on the backs of players because that’s what gets interaction? So as a basketball fan you inherently absorb those ideas while just trying to catchup in the news cycle? And if you’re not a junkie who spends every waking moment of your consciousness glued to a backlit screen, you probably dont have the time or energy to formulate your own calculated and precise opinion of popular topics?
So KD asking to be traded before his 4 year max contract even kicked in wasn’t quitting on the Nets?
He’s only still there because the rest of the league didn’t value him as highly as you do.
So you would know better than a teammate of his for 3 years?
KD is a a hall of Famer, a championship player who has come back from brutal injuries my friend. A top 5 player at 34 who put up 29 per game last season on a dysfunctional nets team. No quit in KD.
Has he won anything without the Warriors?
Your classic response doesn’t take away from KD being everything stated. Does curry have rings without Draymond? Does Russell have rings without hondo ?
Yes
I disagree, with respect.
Russell has 5 rings without Hondo.
But that’s not the point. The point is that KD joined a ready made team that had not only achieved the alltime record 73-9 season, but had beat KD’s team in the WCF.
I should name every hall of Famer Russell played with to make the point. Curry wins nothing without the players that are elite. Neither does Russell.
Both Curry and Russell stayed with the teams that drafted them. KD didn’t.
A top 10 player who can’t win anything without the better player in Steph
SMH did anyone expect him to say something different? Of course he would support it he wouldn’t tick off Durant and say something stupid. Every NBA player would say the same thing.
Eh, he could’ve kept his comment shorter if he wanted to. The fact that it is as long as it is I think does come across as genuine.
“Whatever you say, D O Double G”
*snores*
It’s still mindblowing that GSW has literally always needed a proper backup PG to Steph and in every possible way, that player is Seth Curry, and then Seth plays on a new team every year but none are GSW? Come on!
Man can you take a week of silence in mourning of your queen.
It’s not a coincidence. Seth Curry himself has said he doesn’t want to play on the same team as his brother. He doesn’t want to be constantly compared or overshadowed. I don’t blame him one bit either.
Seth isn’t close to the player his brother is. Seth shouldn’t even be starting in this league. Seth is fragile and a huge liability on defense. Best seth comes off the bench.
Obviously, the teams Seth has played on recently disagree. He started every game he played in for both Philly and the Nets the last 2 seasons.
Who cares …….. yawn
Would he have supported it if he was on the other end of it so he could join his brother? Things that make you go hmmm…
Curry doesn’t care about the Next Warriors generation, he wants all the titles and he wants them now …