Green defends Durant’s decision
Fiery player lashes out at Clippers’ Pierce, others for criticizing star’s move
DENVER — A passionate Draymond Green came to the defense of Kevin Durant on Thursday afternoon, blasting those who continue to criticize Durant’s free agency move from Oklahoma City to Golden State.
Durant was in the news all Thursday, starting when his former teammate Russell Westbrook, clearly peeved, called Durant’s recent “selfless” assessment of the Warriors “cute.”
But Green, in particular, went after Clippers forward Paul Pierce, who went on Sirius XM radio and said, among other things, “when you’re that close as a competitor, you don’t go and join the team that pushed you out.”
This continued the flood of both current and former players who have scoffed at Durant’s move, questioning his competitiveness.
“I just wonder at what point do they get bored talking about the same thing?” Green said. “You got all these guys talking. Like Pierce today, like, dude nobody care what you did or who you did it for. Just give it a break. Everybody got something to say and want to take everything he say and twist it. Like, he play with the Warriors. OKC has their team, we have our team. He left there.
“Nobody complain when somebody leave Apple and go to Google. Aren’t they in competition with each other? Nobody talk junk about the CEO who leaves Apple and goes to Google. As a basketball player, you are the CEO of a business.
“You are a business. Kevin Durant is a big business. He is the CEO of that business. So him going to play basketball for a different team, the CEO decided to leave where he was at and go somewhere else.
“But there’s so many guys in this league that are so stupid they don’t think like that. They don’t think business wise. It happens every day in the world. But in basketball it’s a problem.
“Aren’t you competitive in your day job if you work for Apple? Don’t you want to outdo Google? What’s the difference on the basketball court. It’s your day job. You want to do what’s better for you. If it’s better for your family life, better for your happiness. Ain’t no one criticizing them. I don’t understand it. I’ll never understand it. So that’s just me. And I’d be willing to bet my salary ain’t many guys in this league more competitive than me.”
Earlier this week, Durant made a batch of new comments regarding the contro- versial move, which stirred up the storyline again, including a glowing assessment of the Warriors.
“They work together,” Durant said. “You hear family a lot. That’s just a word sometimes, but this is really a lifestyle here. You can feel it when you walk in the door, in the practice facility, everybody is just together.”
Many viewed that as a veiled shot at his former employer. After the Thunder’s practice in Oklahoma City on Thursday, Westbrook was presented with the quote. He seemed agitated.
“That’s cute, man,” he said. “That’s cute. My job is to be able to worry about what’s going on here. We don’t worry about all the selfish guys we got over here apparently. So we better figure that out.”
Durant’s comments were made during a panel discussion at Stanford on Monday. The forum was part of a ceremony honoring the Warriors as an entrepreneurial company of the year. The point of the discussion, which included Joe Lacob, Bob Myers and Andre Iguodala, was to explain what was so great about Golden State’s organization.
Durant appears to be in a tough spot. He comes across as a positive guy in interview settings, praising players, teams, opponents and coaches. But right now, when he spouts off compliments about his new organization, many take it as an undercover jab at his former organization.
Durant didn’t leave Oklahoma City on the best terms, and Westbrook seems a bit peeved.
After battling alongside Westbrook for eight years, Durant just sent his former running mate a quick text message goodbye after leaving for Golden State. No phone call or explanation. The two haven’t talked since, Westbrook recently said.
Plus there’s a deeper history when it comes to the “selfless” comment that seemed to bug Westbrook. For years, pundits have slammed the Thunder’s explosive star, saying he shoots too much and isn’t a true point guard, that he was holding Durant back.
When the noise would get its loudest, Durant was often the one who most vehemently backed Westbrook. Skip Bayless was hyper critical of Westbrook years back. Durant blasted Bayless in an interview, saying “that guy doesn’t know anything about basketball.”
Mark Cuban said Westbrook wasn’t a superstar during last year’s playoffs. Durant interrupted a press conference question to Westbrook to call Cuban “an idiot” for the comment.
Now it’s Durant, at least in Westbrook’s estimation it seems, making news for implying Westbrook is a selfish player. Was it a veiled shot? Maybe. But maybe Westbrook also took one a couple months back when he starred in a Jordan Brand commercial with the slogan: “Some run, some make runways.”
Either way, this is just the latest chapter in this ongoing saga. The first oncourt version will take place on Nov. 3 at Oracle Arena.