It's no secret that the Warriors tried to trade for Kevin Durant at this year's trade deadline. A deal would have likely gone through if not for Durant rejecting it.
When he did, the Warriors pivoted to acquiring Jimmy Butler for a much lower cost. But the questions remained about Durant's view of the Warriors and why he rejected the move. He explained his perspective on Draymond Green's podcast Wednesday.
His first point is that acquiring Durant means shipping off assets, and that's not a win for either side. But he did leave the door open a bit in the offseason.
"As far as the Warriors, I didn't want to move," Durant said. "And then as a player like me, I cost a lot. Me going into your team in the middle of the team, it's going to be a big blow to any team I'm going to. I get why y'all want to trade me. Simple fact, that's just business. But for me, it just don't make sense for either side right now to go through that when we can play the season out. And if that's the decision you want to make in the offseason, then we figure it out. If I can stop it, then why not."
He also mentioned the "narratives" that would be part of returning to the Warriors and went on to compliment the Warriors.
"And then the narratives that's going to come with all that shit," Durant said. "I can play under the noise. But it's the simple fact that I didn't feel like it was a need to make that big of a change.
"And look what y'all doing right now Dray. Y'all looking good. Jimmy and then you still got Kuminga on the way back. So I didn't think it made sense. And I just wanted to see it through."
While Durant did leave the door open to the Warriors, it sounded like he was leaving the door open for any team in an offseason acquisition, rather than him hankering to return. The full episode is here. Listen to Willard and Dibs react to the comments by Durant above.