In a new interview, NBA legend Kevin Durant spoke out for the first time on why he surprisingly turned down a reunion to chase another title with the Golden State Warriors earlier this year.
NBA fans rolled their eyes when Durant figured if you can’t beat them, then join them when he signed with the Warriors before the 2016-17 season. Because we all knew adding the superstar scorer to an already stacked team would make Golden State nearly unstoppable. And if not for an Achilles tear in the NBA Finals, they would have won three straight championships with Durant.
That is why, when rumors swirled in February that the Warriors were working on bringing the 15-time All-Star back to the franchise, it seemed like a no-brainer that a reunion would happen. Especially so Durant could escape the basketball Titanic that the Phoenix Suns had become.
But to the surprise of the NBA world, he turned down a deal. But why? The Suns were a mess, and joining the Warriors would have meant a real chance at winning another title last season. Well, in a conversation with Sports Illustrated, Durant claims the lack of early transparency from the Warriors and Suns about a trade completely turned him off on the idea.
Kevin Durant claims ‘backdoor s***’ was why he turned down Warriors reunion
“I love Steph [Curry]. And I really thought about going back to the Warriors. But it was a certain part of me that just didn’t like that this last little phase of my career was gonna be that these owners were just gonna work behind my back to make that decision for me,” Durant said.
“I didn’t like that part of it, and I felt like I worked my way up in this league and put a lot of sweat equity into my name and my game, or the respect or the brand that I’ve created. So you doing business behind my back, backdoor s*** like that… So I just wanted to wash my hands of both of those teams, the Warriors and the Suns. Because I didn’t like how they did business.”
A player of his stature, of course, has the right to decide where he wants to be traded to. However, for a legend who claims he is all about winning titles, it is pretty odd that he would just stay on a bad team headed toward missing the playoffs instead of going to one he is familiar with that can win right now.
Durant admits he appreciated Golden State coming to him when a deal was close and asking if he wanted to return. But at that point, he was already bothered by how it all came together.
