KNICKS FANS LOVE DURANT FEUD
Draymond Green served his one-game suspension and the Warriors still beat the Hawks in Atlanta on Tuesday, even without an injured Stephen Curry.
But the Golden State drama is far from over, with the dissension between Green and Kevin Durant showing no signs of abating — and making it appear clearer that Durant will be playing elsewhere next season.
Video surfaced in a tweet from Bleacher Report from the middle of the dustup between the two Warriors in Monday’s loss to the Clippers, in which Durant apparently said to himself, “That’s why I’m out.”
And according to a report in The Athletic, Durant — a free agent and certain Knicks target this offseason — may already have made up his mind to leave after this season.
“With what was said, there is already no way Durant is coming back,” one player, granted anonymity, told the website. “The only hope is that they can say this summer, ‘See, KD. We’ve got your back. We protected you from Draymond.’ ”
The organization took the situation seriously enough that it opted to not just fine Green — which it did when he confronted head coach Steve Kerr during a game in Oklahoma City two years ago — but also ban him for a game.
“If we thought that was the right thing to do, we would have,” one front-office executive told The Athletic of the penalty. “We have to do what we think is right.”
Green drew the suspension for reportedly calling Durant a “bitch” repeatedly following the defeat in Los Angeles. He was punished for “conduct detrimental to the team,” according to Yahoo Sports.
The two jawed after Durant yelled at Green, obviously displeased Green did not pass him the ball following a rebound by Green that set up the final possession of regulation in a tie game.
Green turned the ball over and the Warriors didn’t get a shot off before losing in OT.
Afterward, Green reportedly defended his right to bring the ball up the court, as the fight spilled into the locker room, with The Athletic reporting that Green then brought up Durant’s impending free agency and the team’s annoyance that Durant continues to let the subject linger instead of insisting on focusing on this season.
Durant, asked following the win in Atlanta if he and Green had been able to “hash anything out,” responded, “Nah,” before adding when pressed on the matter: “I’m sure we will. Got a long season ahead.”
But he declined to go into details about what transpired between the two.
“I’m going to keep that in-house,’’ Durant said. “That’s what we do here. Obviously, I know you guys [in the media] got a job to do, but I’m not trying to give [anybody any] headlines. What happened, happened. We’re trying to move on [and] play basketball.”
Durant also declined to say whether he was surprised Green got suspended.
“I was just focused on the game,” Durant said. “I didn’t really care either way.” Kerr sounded more optimistic. “I think we’ll be fine,” Kerr said after the victory. “We’re a team that goes through stuff, just like everybody else. And things happen, bumps in the road. You’ve got to move forward. It’s all part of coaching a team, it’s all part of being on a team. You have to get through the adversity and there are some difficult times and you just get through them.”
If Durant’s brother is to be believed, the difficult times may not be over.
Tony Durant, who has spoken on his brother’s behalf before, apparently did so again Wednesday in a pair of since-deleted posts on Instagram that were seemingly directed at Green.
“True colors ain’t hard to see when someone is mad! It’s so much more [clear] now lol,” Tony Durant wrote in the first post. “Instead of competing with what’s already written, just follow along before the greatness is done rubbing off on you and people see you for what you really are…”