Kevin Durant was announced as the newest member of the Golden State Warriors during a press conference in Oakland on Thursday.
The presser itself made official a decision that many around the NBA world have questioned. Why join a 73-win team instead of continuing to build your own legacy in Oklahoma City? That’s a question many had for the MVP and four-time scoring champion.
For Durant, the criticism he’s received since making this decision seems to act as nothing more than white noise.
Kevin Durant: "We live in a comic book world where either you're a villian or a superhero if you're in this position. I can't control that."
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 7, 2016
As Durant made his decision at The Hamptons this past weekend, there were a ton of people in his ear, including his father, Wayne Pratt.
Following the MVP’s press conference in Oakland on Thursday, Pratt shared some of the advice he had for his son.
“‘For once in your life be selfish and think about yourself,’” Pratt said he told his son. “That’s the only thing I could tell him. And it’s hard for him to do that because that is not in his personality,” Pratt said, via ESPN.com. “But sometimes in your growth as a man you have to be selfish and make decisions that are based on him and his future family.”
Pratt went on to indicate that most of the decisions his son has made throughout his life have catered to what was best for his family and his parents. As a father, Pratt wanted to make sure his son knew that it was okay to be selfish for once in his life.
Durant left the only organization he’s suited up for during a nine-year career, eight of which have involved Oklahoma City as a home base. It was a difficult decision, one that might very well have been made selfishly.