While they were teammates in November of 2018, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green got into a heated back-and-forth after a botched play at the end of regulation against the Los Angeles Clippers.
At the time, the latter called his fellow Golden State Warrior a “bitch” several times. “You’re a bitch and you know you’re a bitch,” Green reportedly said. “We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave.”
Eventually, following a Game 6 loss in the NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors, Durant heeded Green’s advice and left the Bay Area to sign with the Brooklyn Nets. Now, fresh off playing together once again and winning a gold medal at the Olympics as members of Team USA, Durant and Green are saying it was how the blow-up was handled — not the incident itself — that paved the way for the former to leave the Warriors.
In an interview posted on Bleacher Report, Durant and Green both said they believed head coach Steve Kerr and Golden State team president/general manager Bob Myers mishandled the fallout from their argument.
“It wasn’t the argument,” Durant told Green. “It was the way that everybody — Steve Kerr — acted like it didn’t happen. Bob Myers tried to just discipline you [Green] and think that would put the mask over everything.”
Green, who has previously talked about the situation and referred to Durant as “the elephant in the room,” was suspended for his role in the incident and asked to apologize. According to him, that only made things worse.
Echoing sentiments Green has shared in the past, Durant likened what happened with the Warriors to the breakup of the Chicago Bulls that was chronicled in The Last Dance.
“I remember watching The Last Dance and when Scottie [Pippen] didn’t go into the game, the whole team in the locker room said, ‘Scottie, that was fucked up that you did that.’ We needed that,” Durant said. “We just needed to throw all of that shit on the table and say, ‘Yo Dray, K, that was fucked up that we even had to go through that.’ Let’s just wipe our hands with that and go finish the task. … I didn’t think we did that. We just tried to dance around it. I just didn’t like, just the vibe between all of that, it just made shit weird to me.”
Fair enough, but it is pretty interesting how this story has shifted over time.
More Like This
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.
