Kevin Durant on Warriors: “I’m glad they lost”
Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors after they lost in the NBA Finals.
The Golden State Warriors suffered one of the most devastating collapses in professional sports history. Leading 3-1 in the NBA Finals, the Dubs eventually fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. And, instead of it ruining them, they turned around and signed Kevin Durant.
It sent shockwaves throughout the entire NBA. Durant was criticized and his integrity questioned. How could a player like him join a team that, in the last two years, won a championship and then 73 games in a single season?
Many justified the move by arguing that the Finals loss showed that the Warriors were flawed. Outside of Curry, Golden State did not have another explosive scorer that could create both for himself and for others. Guys like Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala are fantastic playmakers, but they don’t really like to score. Klay Thompson can get hotter than anyone on the planet, but he doesn’t really have great court vision. And Harrison Barnes couldn’t do anything.
The Warriors needed Durant because, without a real threat like him at the small forward position, teams could double team Curry and defend Thompson tightly. It’s what Cleveland did–they let Barnes try to beat them and he couldn’t. Durant changes all of that.
Fans coped and joked with the catastrophic loss by saying they intentionally threw the series in order to land the former MVP. It was just another chapter in their #LightYears ahead book. Because there’s no way they could have landed him if they won, right?
It seems Durant might have confirmed that. The team met with the Chamber of Commerce and the superstar offered some insight into his decision to join Golden State. He responded to the question of whether the Warriors’ loss made the destination more appealing (via Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News):
"“I was telling one of my friends, Rich (Kleiman, his agent), who’s here, we were watching Game 7. Well, as it started to unfold, it was, ‘No question, no way could you go to this team.’ And I was just like a kid, like, in a candy shop. I’d get wide open 3s, I could just run up and down the court, get wide open layups. I was basically begging him. I was like, yo, this would be nice. So as I was thinking about my decision and who I was gonna play for, this team came to mind. You know, as they lost, it became more and more real every day. You start to think about it even more. To see if I would fit. Then once I sat down with these guys, everything that I wanted to know about them they kinda showed me. But we don’t have to talk about it though because they didn’t get the job done and they came after me and who knows what would’ve happened. But I guess you could say I’m glad that they lost.”"
It looks like Durant was already interested. He clearly loved Oklahoma City and it was’t any easy decision for him to leave. While he was intrigued, perhaps he felt like he needed a reason to go. The Cleveland Cavaliers somehow getting past the injured-Warriors by just a few baskets gave Durant the window he needed.
As soon as the game ended, the Warriors got right to business. They turned their attention to Durant. Everyone from owner Joe Lacob to MVP Stephen Curry was on board and they got the job done.
Obviously, the Warriors would have preferred to cap off the greatest single season of all-time with their second consecutive championship. But the second place trophy wasn’t too shabby this year.