Kevin Durant Says Draymond Green Fight, Warriors' Contracts Influenced Decision To Leave Golden State

Kevin Durant acknowledged on ESPN’s “First Take” Thursday morning that an in-gaame argument with Draymond Green early in the 2018-2019 NBA season influenced his decision to eventually leave the Golden State Warriors in free agency.

Green was suspended by the team for a game after he reportedly cursed at Durant and dared him to sign elsewhere as a free agent in the summer. The verbal altercation took place on the bench during an overtime loss against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 12, 2018.

“Your teammate talks to you that way, you think about it a bit,” Durant told Stephen A. Smith when asked if Green’s comments played a role in not staying with the Warriors. “We talked about it but, definitely. For sure. I’m not gonna lie about it.”

Durant spent three years with the Warriors, reaching the NBA Finals in each season and winning two championships. He noted that the team was going to struggle to maintain that success with role players getting older and stars like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson signing max contracts.

“I just felt like I needed a switch,” Durant said on “First Take.” “Felt like a lot of stuff in Golden State had reared its head and I felt like it was gonna be the end no matter what, especially for that group. Shaun Livingston was retiring. Andre Iguodala was getting older. Our contracts were gonna stifle the team and put us in a hole to get other players.”

Green recently spoke about the incident with Durant on an episode of “The Woj Pod” with Golden State general manager Bob Myers.

“Bob and [head coach Steve Kerr], they told me, like, ‘You need to apologize to Kevin,’ before I got suspended. And I said, ‘No, I'm not apologizing because y'all telling me to apologize. I'm not gonna do that.’ And I didn't. And I never apologized to him until I came to grips with myself,” Green told Adrian Wojnarowski. “Not because of some games or the team ain't flowing right. But I can kind of see a look in my brother's face that I have not seen. He's hurt. How do I fix that? And that was what bothered me more than anything.”

Durant will miss the entire 2019-2020 season as he recovers from a torn Achilles. He signed a four-year contract with the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason.