VIDEO: Draymond Green Explains What Bothered Him About Kevin Durant's Impending Free Agency
By Will Fowler
With Game 1 of the NBA Finals set to tip off tonight, Draymond Green sat down with ESPN's Rachel Nichols to discuss a whole slew of topics, and one was ultimately unavoidable: Kevin Durant's impending free agency. Take a listen to what he had to say on the elephant in the room starting around the 4:45 mark.
Draymond Green sits down for a VERY honest conversation on what he had to give up in order to get what he wanted, what he learned from that fight he had with Kevin Durant earlier in the season, what he thinks KD will do in free agency & just how confident he is against Toronto. pic.twitter.com/D6mgEUPvPl
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 30, 2019
What Green reinforced was what a lot of fans were assuming; Durant's constant subtle hints and free agency discussions during the season rubbed him, and presumably the entire locker room, the wrong way. In a season in which your team is the favorite to win the title yet again, public discussions about your future are probably best left on hold-- and that was something Green felt Durant didn't understand.
"It wasn't necessarily that him being a free agent bothered me. It was, 'are you with us or not?' that bothered me," Green said.
"It wasn't necessarily that, him being a free agent bothered me."
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 30, 2019
Draymond reveals what actually sparked his early-season incident with KD ?https://t.co/Bbigom9dCa pic.twitter.com/VNfN7NWEdx
Green goes on to explain that after bringing the issue up with Durant, he advised the two-time Finals MVP told him to tune out what he was hearing from the media and focus on how much he was giving to the team every day.
The Warriors enter the 2019 NBA Finals as the favorites to lift the trophy over the Toronto Raptors, but with Durant set to miss at least Game 1, it's worth wondering if he's even guaranteed to see the floor in a Golden State uniform again. If and when he does, he and Draymond will need to be entirely in sync for their team to prevail once again.