Despite suggestions by teammates that there’s “no way” he’ll return to the team following an incident with Draymond Green, Kevin Durant says the altercation won’t have any impact on what he does in free agency.
Durant signed a one-year deal with the Warriors in July but can become a free agent if he declines his player option for the 2019-20 season.
At this point, he is fully expected to decline the option in favor of testing the free-agent waters.
If he does, what happened with Green won’t be a concern, according to Durant.
“Nah, [it won’t factor],” Durant told Yahoo. “Because at the end of the day, I’m just a ballplayer that’s just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that, once the game starts, I’m just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me.”
However, Durant is sick of the media circus and the discussions the incident with Green has created.
“My whole thing is I didn’t create any of this,” he continued. “That’s just my whole thing. I was just playing basketball. Now, I got to answer questions, now I got to talk about this, now I got to feel a way when I was in a great zone playing basketball. … Now, it’s always going to come back. Like, ‘Are they all right? Man, he didn’t play well. Is he going to leave?’ Why do I even have to think about that at this point? … Then it turned into, ‘K.D.’s going to this place, he doesn’t like the Warriors no more. He should go here, he should go there.’ More distractions.”
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