Kevin Durant is the latest, leaving Oklahoma City for the Golden State Warriors.
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Kevin Durant announced Monday that he was leaving the “comfort zone” of Oklahoma City and joining the team with the best record in the National Basketball Association: the 73-win Golden State Warriors.
Kevin Durant announced his big decision on Monday: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. The 2-year, $54 million deal includes a player option after the first year.
The addition of the duo, combined with the large contracts of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, gave the Nets the highest payroll in the league that season, with all the accompanying expectations. The team won a title 2 seasons ago and was in the finals past year.
Lil B’s well-publicized curse against Rockets star James Harden for appropriating the “cooking dance” he says he invented was thought by some fans to be a secret asset in losing games against the Warriors in 2015. Steve Kerr’s game-plan helped Klay Thompson and Draymond Green thrive into All-Star status (and signature shoe territory for Klay), and Durant is unselfish enough to share the load and limelight with fellow superstars.
In Smith’s mind, Durant is abandoning the Thunder for a team that is only slightly better, rather than trying to build on the success his team experienced in the recent National Basketball Association season.
A source familiar with Durant’s thinking said, “Ultimately he got frustrated and felt that they had plateaued”. They are based in a booming area of the country, which is good for Durant’s manifold business interests. If the Warriors closed out the Cavs after being up 3-1 in the series and won their second championship in two years, would Joe Lacob & Co. actively pursue free agents?
Oklahoma City is an elite team in the Western Conference with Durant.
Durant has elevated Oklahoma’s profile so much that he was inducted into the state’s Hall of Fame late a year ago. West never once told Durant that he should sign with the Warriors.
Every team had its reasons to be at least mildly hopeful, but none more so than Oklahoma City. The Warriors just pimped out their Death Star by putting another Death Star on it, and I can’t imagine how next season doesn’t end with them winning a championship. They may lose Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, but there is always a chance that they could lure Blake Griffin back home to Oklahoma next season.
“So if you ask me from a league standpoint, we would prefer that our All-Stars be distributed around the league rather than having so many All-Stars in one market”.
Durant told the Warriors throughout the process that he liked their franchise more than any other.
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To win titles, and be the best player he can be. Many teams borrow an us-against-the-world mentality.
