A lot has been made about last week's sideline drama between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green. The verbal altercation in which KD's loyalty to the team was tested and he was called a "bitch" had many people thinking that Oakland's real-life Monstars super team was crumbling. Green ended up being fined and suspended by the team for the following game, the Warriors have lost three of their last four since the blow up, and the KD era in Golden State was thought to be all but over after this season. Now, the team is just trying its best to move past it.
Durant recently told Yahoo Sports that his conflict with Draymond will have no impact on his free agency decision this upcoming offseason.
"Nah, [it won’t factor]," Durant told Yahoo Sports reporter Chris Haynes. "Because at the end of the day, I’m just a ballplayer that’s just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that once the game starts, I’m just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me."
Now that he's had some time to process the situation, it sounds like the back-to-back Finals MVP is just chalking it up to Draymond being Draymond. "I never really felt like it was a problem, because I know Dray and he says some crazy [expletive] out his mouth all the time," he said.
The tension seems to have cooled down in the Warriors locker room, but Durant has been letting out his frustration in other ways. On Nov. 15, the small forward got snappy with a reporter asking about the situation and replied, "don't ask me about that again." He also got caught on video telling some heckling fans in Dallas to "watch the fucking game and shut the fuck up." Still, he just wants to go back to focusing on basketball as soon as possible.
"I know that I’ve got to make a choice with myself, like how long are you going to be upset about this to the point where you’re going to let it affect what you do on the floor or how you approach the game? Once it gets there now, I got to make a grown-man decision and tell myself, ‘Look, man, no matter what, you still got to come to work every single day. It’s going to work out. It’s going to figure itself out.’ And I think everyone’s been handling it the best way they could and we’re just trying to move forward with it."
Despite Durant's claims, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is reportedly concerned about his team's chemistry moving forward. According to Bleacher Report, Kerr and General Manager Bob Myers feared that the dispute reportedly had, "the entire chemistry of the team was at stake."
Only time will what Durant ultimately decides to do after this season. The superstar can waive his player option and become a free agent in the summer of 2019.
