Insiders said Durant only wanted to go through this free agency process once, as the short-term contract was a move made to take advantage of an exploding salary cap.
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“We just told him to do what is best for you. I’m sure he wasn’t happy about the decision, but he respected it as my friend”.
Durant averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists a game last season for the Thunder, who alongside star guard Russell Westbrook came within a game of reaching the NBA Finals before losing to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.
Golden State players, led by Draymond Green, recruited Durant all season.
Durant answered the biggest question of this offseason when he announced Monday on the Players’ Tribune that he is heading to the Warriors. Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reported that there was frustration with Westbrook on Durant’s part as well.
With Kevin Durant deciding to play for the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors after leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 National Basketball Association free agency, the biggest blockbuster move of the summer in the National Basketball Association has been completed.
If Durant kept Green at arm’s length during the conference finals, Durant’s former teammates – while having the right to be upset – probably couldn’t ask for more.
“We live in this superhero comic book world where either you’re a villain or you’re a superhero if you’re in this position, and I know that, and I know I haven’t changed as a person”.
This, he said, is the harder route – “It was time for me to try something new, try a new challenge”. I felt like it was time for it, and I made the decision.
Durant met with the Thunder, Warriors, San Antonio, Boston, Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers before announcing his decision Monday. There is a player option after the first year.
James joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, whom he played alongside at the 2008 Olympics, in a “Big Three” and when he returned to Cleveland in 2014 rebuilt the same pillars with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, a 2012 Olympic teammate, joining him. But Westbrook is a free agent next season and could leave, which meant the Thunder’s run as a contender might have had but one more year anyway. We want to get better.
He knew it would have been “easy to go back to something you’re comfortable with”. I felt like it was time for it, and I made the decision.
Commissioner Adam Silver has said in the past that those changes were effective, but the influx of new money into the system this summer from the league’s new $24 billion television contract, and Stephen Curry’s bargain contract that was negotiated when he was struggling with ankle injuries, conspired to give the Warriors enough wiggle room to spend $54 million on Durant.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they score 200 pts next year”, tweeted Cameroon center Joel Embiid of Philadelphia of the Warriors’ single-game scoring potential.
Of course, some Thunder fans set fire to their Durant jerseys. “The relationships between me and this team doesn’t feel forced”.
“Those nine years you can’t erase”. It just feels like a missing piece of the puzzle. “Everybody on the outside of course, they view this as a super team, but we’ve still got to put the work in”.
“I will miss Oklahoma City, and the role I have had in building this remarkable team”.
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When James left Cleveland for Miami, stars such as Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson were critical of the decision to join forces with players he had competed against.
