Kevin Durant speaks with reporters after he was introduced during a news conference at the Warriors’ practice facility.
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Durant’s decision, which he announced on Monday in a piece posted on the Players’ Tribune website, was the most highly anticipated move of the NBA’s offseason and capped what he called the most challenging few weeks of his professional life. That made for interesting timing, as the Thunder came up just short of reaching the NBA Finals this year, blowing a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors. The four-time scoring champ signs a 2-year deal worth 54-million bucks, and switched teams in an effort to win his first National Basketball Association title.
Thursday, a banner in his honor was erected outside the Oracle arena in Oakland.
After a sitdown with 2015 and 2016 MVP Steph Curry, coach Steve Kerr, All-Stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Durant spoke directly with Jerry West, the former National Basketball Association icon who works in the front office with the Warriors. I went back-and-forth for two or three days it was tough. “These guys are the best players in the world, and I think once Boston did it, and LeBron through free agency did it, Kevin Durant just had an opportunity to do it as well”.
“We had a pretty tough time in the playoffs with Kevin’s length and versatility defensively, and of course that’s kind of been our calling card as a defense the last couple years, the versatility, the ability to switch, and Kevin fits perfectly into that style”, Kerr said.
On when he made the decision… “That’s the kind of feel that I wanted”. “I understood cognitively that I was facing a crossroads in my evolution as a player and as a man, and that it came with exceptionally hard choices”.
Durant singled out Iguadola as one of the most convincing members of that group. This was the hardest road – I don’t know anyone here, I’ve never lived in this community or played for this team….
The dream is official: Kevin Durant is a Warrior. I’ve already had great talent here my first two years.
From the outside looking in you hear nothing but great things about this organization, but you never know how it is until you get face to face with these guys.
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“I’m sure he wasn’t happy about the decision but he respected it as a friend”, Durant said, adding that he is sure they will talk in the future. It’s the same type of criticisms that LeBron James received when he made the decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010.
