Kevin Durant has shared his reason for leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
Durant was a guest on the recent episode of Showtime Basketball show “All the Smoke” featuring Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. One of the subjects that came up was Durant controversially leaving OKC for Golden State.
Durant said he left to go play with a more talented team with guys who passed the ball more and had better shooters.
“In OKC I played with a lot of athletes, I didn’t play with a lot of skilled guys, not like shooters, ball handlers. So after a while, my game started to grow, I was like ‘I need a change’. This was before the season even started. I was like I’m going to play out my season as hard as I can. I’m not telling anyone I want to leave, I’m not packing in — I’m trying to win as much as we can. That was my thinking going into the year.
“I was tired of playing in that system. I was tired of having to be the only guy that can make threes, make jumpshots — consistently make them.”
Yes, Durant wanted more help. But he went to a team where he had too much help, and that’s what bothered people.
Also, Durant’s Thunder were up 3-1 on those Warriors in the playoffs. Durant admits he knew entering the season that he wanted to join the Warriors in free agency. Maybe if he weren’t thinking like that and was hellbent on winning a championship in OKC, he would have won one that season.
Though these comments seemed new to many, we actually knew this about Durant because his burner told us three years ago.
