It's probably safe to say that Kevin Durant is enjoying his time as a Brooklyn Net. Though he did just miss nearly two months of action while dealing with an injury, he returned to the court on Wednesday night and delivered in a big way despite only 19 minutes of playing time, producing 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
It has to be going better than his final season with the Warriors, right? With all the rumored drama, stemming from quotes by people like David West and even head coach Steve Kerr — though both clarified what they had said, with Kerr getting especially frustrated at how his comments had been taken out of context — Durant is probably still haunted by what went on... right?
"There's a narrative going around that 2017-2018, in the Warriors' locker room, there was so much stuff that they don't know about, right?" Durant said on the latest episode of Boardroom Podcast Network and Cadence13's "The ETCs" podcast, available on Audacy. "I've heard this before. I'm trying to figure out, what's the sh-- that people don't know about that's just, like, so secretive and confidential. I was wondering if you knew, you know, what [David] West and Steve Kerr meant and insinuated, because I'm lost."
Who was he talking to? Who might know better than Durant himself? None other than Draymond Green. Could there be a more perfect duo of sources to discuss this matter?
"You know, I've heard not only Steve Kerr say that, because Steve said it, but even when... we won the first championship — the first or second, one of those championships — D. West said it after we won the championship," Green said. "And, you know, I've got mad love for the OG D. West. You know, I ride with D. West. D. West is a real one.
"But when D. West said that, my mom even asked me then, like, 'all of what going on?' And I was just like, 'ma, honestly I don't know!' Like, I ain't know nothing was going on between y'all and them, and I was like, 'ma, honestly, I don't know'... and so I said all of that to say — I still don't know all the stuff that was going on!"
The two — along with co-host Eddie Gonzalez — were laughing throughout the whole exchange. What was going on? Maybe, after all this, it really was nothing — at least nothing involving KD or Draymond. If all this supposed drama was about someone/something else, that's a whole different story.
"Thank you for confirming," Durant said with a laugh. "Because I've been telling people this. They're like, 'yo, what happened?' And I was like, 'yo, I really don't know what went on,' because it was like Groundhog's Day. It was amazing every day. Nobody got into nothing and everybody did they thing every day until we finished. It was like, what the f---? What happened?
"I thought some other s--- outside, like D. West got into some sh-- with somebody outside of us maybe, but when he said that, I was like huh? We almost lost, but I mean, that's not that bad."
Green went on to acknowledge that, like any team, or organization, or group of humans, bad days happen, and some fights and disagreements occur. The one that got the most publicity, of course, was the little bench scuffle between the two stars against the Clippers in November of 2018.
And this, from their perspectives, was blown out of proportion as well. They each gave their take on what happened, and listening to each while watching the play unfold allows you to, ironically, understand their misunderstanding.
Draymond's take is as follows:
I got the rebound, obviously, and I took up the court... and I'mma tell you why I fell. I come up the court, K (Kevin) calling for the ball and I'm taking off... in my mind, this is all what's about to happen. K about to come in for the trail, I'm about to cut straight across the middle of the court and I'm just about to pitch it back. He about to walk into the three, we're going home, we got a game tomorrow... so this is how I'm envisioning the whole play happen. As I turn to go across the court for the pitch back, K has completely stopped coming. So I'm looking for him down back, and as I'm looking for him to pitch back, I f---ing dribble the ball off my foot looking for him, and like, sh-- went all wrong.
...So we get back to the huddle, I turned that m-----f------ over, and K yelling, 'Give me the m-----f------ ball!' And I'm just looking at him, and literally my response was, 'I was f----- passing you the ball if you would've f------- ran!
And now, for Durant's perspective (mind you, they're laughing throughout this whole portion of the podcast):
What I thought was supposed to happen... We got the stop, I'm grabbing the rebound, I'm running up. Soon as I cross half court, I'm shooting it. That was the disconnect. That was it between us. Like, I wanted the moment, Draymond seen it in a different way, and then that was the clash. So I was just like, I ain't run back because I was just like, damn, I ain't got this m-----f----- in my hands right now? I was so distraught, and then I snapped back into it. By that time, Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) had already got his hand in there, because he looked back and seen that I wasn't really like haul assing, because I was like damn, I'm supposed to have this m-----f----- pulling up. So I'm like in another place, and then boom, we get back to the huddle.
And what exactly went on in the huddle is something we've heard before, thanks to Green's recollection of the little altercation back in April of 2020 on "All The Smoke." A quick summation: they disagreed on what was supposed to go down on that play and exchanged some choice words. Boogie Cousins held them apart so that no physical altercation could occur. Draymond got a talking to afterward from Kerr and Bob Myers, he got a suspension, he didn't understand why everyone else had to get involved, and the basketball community took it from there, blowing it way out of proportion from there. Durant says that this was actually the aspect of the fight that frustrated him most: he knew just how far "vultures" would take it, trying to separate the team and bring KD's contract situation into the fold.
But one thing seems pretty clear from the podcast discussion between the two: it wasn't all that bad, and, at least for Green, that season was not less enjoyable than the dismal 2020 campaign in Golden State, as Kerr had suggested.
"I'll tell you what," Green said. "I played with that next team. I ain't have more fun."
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