Kevin Durant Has No Reason to Return to the Golden State Warriors
The NBA free agency madness starts this Sunday and one person that looks to have a comeback return when healthy is Kevin Durant. After being misdiagnosed of what is now an Achilles injury during the NBA finals with the Golden State Warriors, Durant looks to take his talents elsewhere as a free agent.
Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant has declined his $31.5M player option and will become an unrestricted free agent, league sources tell ESPN. Durant and his business manager Rich Kleiman are in New York, evaluating free agency options. So far, process has stayed private.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2019
When Durant was initially hurt in the playoffs against the Houston Rockets, the Warriors knew they had to perform at the top of their game without one of their all-stars. They did just that, as they took down not only the Rockets, but went on to the Western Conference Finals and swept the Portland Trail Blazers. The Warriors proved that they didn’t need Durant to dominate the Western Conference
Although, during the NBA finals the Warriors couldn’t handle the Toronto Raptors without Durant and needed him back on the court in order to win a third-straight championship. Durant came back in game five and was magnificent, but it was short lived as he got hurt again and not only lost a title but is now sidelined and needs to recover from this injury.
Kevin Durant ‘really pissed off’ at the Warriors, met twice with Kyrie Irving: report
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 24, 2019
This is presumably for the Warriors pressuring him to play through a calf injury that resulted in his Achilles injury. Also, Durant bought a new house in N.Y.https://t.co/okMRSpIr8w
This offseason, reports went on to say that Durant is ‘really pissed off’ at the Warriors regarding his injury. The team pressured him to play through a calf injury which then resulted into something worse; an Achilles injury.
This past season the former 2013-2014 NBA MVP and back to back finals MVP averaged 26 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game and teams such as the Knicks and Nets would be anxious to sign him despite the injury.
If the Warriors managed before without Durant and can’t play this season, maybe it's time for him to take his talents to the Eastern Conference and show everyone what he is still capable of.