Warriors owner no longer as confident about re-signing Kevin Durant

Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob no longer sounds as confident about signing Kevin Durant as he did a few short weeks ago.

Lacob was asked after his Warriors lost 114-110 to the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night to end the series how hopeful he was about re-signing Durant. According to The New York Times’ Marc Stein, Lacob said “we’ll find out.”

Asked Warriors owner Joe Lacob how hopeful he is of re-signing Kevin Durant. "We'll find out," Lacob said.

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 14, 2019

This may not seem like much, but the important context is Lacob’s previous answer to the question.

Back on May 21, The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami published an article in which Lacob said he was confident about the Warriors re-signing BOTH Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.

Joe Lacob text today: "We love Klay and KD and intend to attempt to re-sign them. Period. I am confident about BOTH of them."

Column: https://t.co/VdEngf8LVn

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) May 22, 2019

That’s a big change in feeling from Lacob.

Of course, a lot has changed in the circumstances. Durant played in Game 5 of the series and tried to return from his calf injury with his Warriors down 3-1. He tore his Achilles tendon in the second quarter, which seemed to be proof that the Warriors erred in some way with the handling of his return, such as not putting him on a minutes restriction. Plus you had Lacob declaring before the series that Durant would return for the Finals, which may have put additional pressure on the two-time Finals MVP to return before he was ready.

Perhaps all that will way on Durant’s decision, and Lacob may know it.