JR Smith is finally admitting what most of us already knew when the Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant in 2016.
Smith joined “The HoopsHype podcast with Michael Scotto” for an interview that was published on Wednesday. During the interview, Scotto asked Smith what his reaction was to the Warriors adding Durant. At the time, Smith was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were the Warriors’ biggest competition.
Smith said that while the Cavs never lost their competitive attitude, he knew deep down that the addition made the Warriors almost a guaranteed champion.
“When that happened, everybody was pretty much playing for second. Don’t get me wrong, in the heat of the battle, we’re thinking, we have a chance, and we can win, but at the same time, it’s like, ‘What the hell are we supposed to do?’ You’ve got three Hall of Famers, legit. What are you going to do?” Smith said.
Smith’s Cavaliers had lost to the Warriors in the NBA Finals in six games in 2015 but famously came back from down 3-1 to beat them in seven games in 2016.
After that series, Draymond Green called Durant to recruit him to sign with Golden State in free agency. Durant did, and the team quickly won back-to-back titles, dispatching the Cavs in five in 2017 and sweeping them in 2018. It took major injuries to Durant and Klay Thompson to prevent the Warriors from winning a third championship in a row.
Nobody was ever going to just roll over for the Warriors or stop trying to beat them, but things became unfair when Golden State signed Durant. That’s why so many pundits were upset with KD, and even Smith knew the addition made things unfair too.
