Draymond, KD agree Myers, Kerr to blame for Durant’s Warriors exit
Warriors’ Draymond Green and Nets’ Kevin Durant detailed how Bob Myers and Steve Kerr handled the teammates’ infamous argument during a 2018 game against the Clippers
Kevin Durant said it wasn’t his argument with Draymond Green during Golden State’s game against the Clippers in 2018 that led to his eventual departure, but the way management handled the now-infamous situation that rubbed him the wrong way.
Speaking on Green’s Bleacher Report show, “Chips,” Durant detailed how the way Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and general manager Bob
Myers handled the spat contributed to the uneasy vibe around the team for the rest of the 2018-19 season.
“It wasn’t the argument,” Durant said. “It was the way that everybody — Steve Kerr — acted like it didn’t happen. Bob Myers tried to just discipline you and thought that would put the mask over everything.”
According to Durant, the argument, which occurred after Green did not pass Durant the ball at the end of an early-season game in Los Angeles, needed to be hashed out between the two
teammates. Green and Durant played together in Golden State from 2016-2019. Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets that following summer.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, Durant said the team “danced” around the issue and never let everyone voice their frustrations. Green then detailed his side of the story.
When the Warriors returned to Oakland from Los Angeles, Green said, he was pressured by the front office to apologize to Durant. Green said he agreed to speak with Durant, but was clear that management should not tell him what to say. When both sides couldn’t come to an agreement, it was decided they would discuss it again the next day.
The next morning, when
Green was asked if he would apologize to Durant, he confirmed he would not, then bluntly told Myers what was at stake.
“Y’all are about to f— this up,” Green recalled saying. “I said, ‘The only person that can make this right is me and (Durant). And there is nothing that y’all can do, and y’all are going to f— this up.’ And in my opinion, they f—— it up.”
“I think so too,” Durant agreed.
When Myers told Green he’d be suspended for a game, Green said he laughed in the general manager’s face — not the reaction Myers was hoping for.
“Either I’m going to laugh at you or I’m going to cuss you out,” Green recalled saying. “So I choose laugh.”