Golden State Warriors: Durant’s decisions’ one year anniversary

The Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant changed the course of his career and NBA history one year ago with his decision to change teams.

Three wins, four losses and one year ago, to the day, July 4th, our founding fathers Bob Myers and Joe Lacob agreed to sign the greatest document in United States history: Kevin Durant‘s contract with the Golden State Warriors.

Okay, okay maybe that’s not how the saying goes and Bob Myers and Joe Lacob are not America’s founding fathers, but it’s pretty close. Anyway, the point is that one year ago today, Kevin Durant declared his independence for greener pastures in the Bay Area instead of staying on the only franchise he knew Seattle/Oklahoma City.

More from Blue Man Hoop

• 3x champion may come to regret forgoing Golden State Warriors reunion
• Golden State Warriors: History shows USA may need Stephen Curry for more than the Olympics
• 7 players Golden State Warriors might replace Klay Thompson with by the trade deadline
• Golden State Warriors villain pours on more pain to end USA’s World Cup
• Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry continues philanthropic efforts off the court

The reactions around the Bay Area must have been ecstatic with people setting off fireworks that their team got one of the best players in the world in the 2016 free agency class. My reaction among all of the other joyous Warriors fans was much of the same, but if I’m going to give the anecdote, it better be right.

Leading up to the decision by Durant, I was not sure if the Warriors could actually sign him because of a report from one of his friends saying that he was “90% sure” he was going to re-sign with Oklahoma City.

In the couple of days that led up to the decision, I was nervous not knowing what to expect. If the Warriors do not sign Durant, it is fine because they can re-sign some of their free agents and try to snag some other scoring players I thought. Then I thought, if the Warriors do actually get Durant, greed and villainy flowed through my veins with the thought of Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, three of the best shooters and scorers in the game, and the damage they could do to other teams.

The night leading up to the decision, I slept decently well, but I was still a little bit on edge and excited on what could potentially happen the next day.

The next morning I woke up with an eagerness to see if Durant had made a decision on what he decided to do. I looked at my phone in disbelief of what I had seen. The Bleacher Report notification that had flashed across my phone screen read: “Breaking News: Kevin Durant will sign with the Golden State Warriors. 2 years/$54M.” I could not believe my eyes and what I was reading.

Quickly, I jumped out of bed and ran to my parents’ room down the hall and to the right. I hollered “We got him!” multiple times. My mom was just as excited as I was yelling “Oh my God! We got him!” and then fell back into bed.

After his decision, I got up with the rest of my family and we turned on SportsCenter and Stephen A. Smith was blasting Durant calling it “the weakest move from a superstar” he’d ever seen. Well alright then Stephen A.

I recall reading Durant’s piece in The Player’s Tribune to see what he wrote on his decision and it was eloquent and made sense from a Warriors fan standpoint. From the other 29 fan bases, they could not say the same thing.

It was tough for the other 29 team’s fans, but I rarely cared. I was ready to become a fan of the most villainous team in sports. I’ve been a Warriors fan for 15 years back when the Warriors had Bob Sura, Gilbert Arenas and Earl Boykins. There were countless players throughout the years who did not want to come to Golden State such as Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan because the Warriors were not putting out a winning product on the court.

You could say that trend changed when Andre Iguodala came to the Warriors in a sign and trade in the summer of 2013, but the Warriors had never got a superstar free agent. Not until Durant last year in 2016. Durant was finally the superstar free agent that Warriors fans had lucked out on getting for years and years.

After the Warriors lost in the Finals, they did the one thing I didn’t think that they could do: sign an elite player such as Kevin Durant and have a possible dynasty coming.