With Hatchet Buried, Durant and Green Discuss Time as Teammates
Over two years later, it’s clear Kevin Durant and Draymond Green disagreed about the direction of that infamous play against the Clippers at the end of the fourth quarter.
But when Green hopped on Durant’s “The ETCs with Kevin Durant” podcast – co-hosted by Eddie Gonzalez – both agreed the controversy around the play and other aspects of their run with the Warriors were blown out of proportion.
When Green got the rebound late in the Nov. 2018 game, he claimed he was waiting for Durant to come up behind him to receive a pass so Durant could take a buzzer-beater. In Durant’s view, it appeared Green took the ball up the court with no intention to dish it out to the 2014 NBA MVP.
An expletive-laden feud ensued, and Green said he had a meeting longer than an hour and a half with coach Steve Kerr and GM Bob Myers after the game, where the two said Green had crossed the line. Green revealed he intended to handle the situation after the two parties had cooled off, but he was suspended before missing more time with a toe injury, only exacerbating the issue as Durant could not share the floor with him.
Durant – who would leave Golden State for the Brooklyn Nets in the next offseason – echoed Green’s sentiments, saying the situation could have been resolved between the two players and was overblown by the media hungry for drama.
“I (knew) what (the exchange) is, I know what I bring to the team,” Durant said. “(Draymond) went too far on one of his little joints, I’m going to talk to (him) about this sh*t next week and let him know what it really is with me. I was so irritated because I knew the vultures was about about to eat this sh*t up. I knew they was gonna use this to try to divide and separate me from the group.”
The pair also agreed they were confused about David West’s comments surrounding controversy from behind closed doors that will come about about the 2017-18 team, saying they knew of no such thing.
Similarly, Green said the narrative of his begging Durant to join the team in the Oracle Arena parking lot after the Warriors lost Game 7 of 2016 NBA Finals was exaggerated.
“(The media) added a theatrical sense to make this sh*t a movie,” Green said. “You gotta make that sh*t for TV, you gotta add on a little… But I wasn’t about to come out and fight it, at the end of the day. However y’all think Kevin got here in your mind, roll with that sh*t if that helps you out.”
Aside from discussing the leadup to Durant’s joining the team on July 4, 2016 and the controversial end to their run, the pair and Gonzalez lamented the team’s dominance as it went to three straight NBA Finals from 2017-2019, winning the first two.
Green also described the way Golden State was able to flip on the switch in the middle of games and reach the levels of unstoppability it did.
“We were way smarter than everybody,” Green said. “To have five guys on the floor that can think the game, that’s a very rare thing. And so you add the skill and the talent that we had, and then after that, you then start to add on experience because now we’ve been together for years, and that’s like a deadly-a*s combination. At halftime you better have been up by 20, cuz if you was up by 16, you would lose by 10 at least.”
The cordial conversation touched on a post-playing career for Green, who said he wanted to add a more analytical lens to basketball breakdowns on television when he hangs up his shoes. When Durant asked Green about a future in coaching, Green expressed disinterest, linking it to his and Durant’s larger view about the lack of edge and excess of friendliness on the court between modern players.
“I think about (coaching) and don’t think I will,” Green said. “The lack of competitiveness in players bothers me more than anything, and I don’t know how I would handle that as a coach.”
As the Warriors jockey for playoff position, Durant’s Nets find themselves in first place in the Eastern Conference as of Thursday after the 11-time All-Star rejoined the team Wednesday. And if a listener wanted to hear about bad blood between the pair in the aftermath of a dynasty, none was found in the episode, with Durant – who Green said was the only teammate who would ever cuss him out – expressing positivity over his time in Golden State.
“It’s not (pressure), it’s (fun to play at that level) especially with so much support, fans gonna get behind you when you’re winning no matter what,” Durant said. “Nationally we was just the f*ck*n rockstars of the NBA, it felt like. So everybody wanted to know what we was doing, it was just a fun time.”