MAX RESPECT FOR KD
Majority owner Joe Lacob: ‘No player will ever wear #35 for the Warriors again’
OAKLAND >> The Warriors found no reason to chastise Kevin Durant for refusing a max contract and an ability to win more NBA championships. Instead, the Warriors thanked Durant for helping the Warriors two NBA Finals in the past three years with two Finals MVP performances.
Warriors majority owner Joe Lacob also outlined another gesture.
“As long as I am Co-Chairman of this team, no player will ever
wear #35 for the Warriors again,” Lacob said in a statement.
Unlike what the Oklahoma City Thunder with P.J. Dozier during a training camp invitee in 2017, the Warriors will never allow a player of any caliber to wear Durant’s No. 35.
Will that also mean the Warriors will retire Durant’s No. 35 Warriors jersey? Perhaps not right away. It appears likely the Warriors will wait until after Durant retires from his NBA career before hoisting his Warriors’ jersey presumably in the Chase Center rafters.
The Warriors currently have six other Warriors player with retired jerseys, including Wilt Chamberlain (No. 13), Tom Meschery (No. 14), Al Attles (No. 16), Chris Mullin (No. 17), Rick Barry (No. 24) and Nate Thurmond (No. 42).
Whenever the Warriors host the Brooklyn Nets at Chase Center next season, it appears likely they will welcome Durant with video tributes highlighting his three
year run after joining them as a free agent. They will urge fans to greet Durant with cheers instead of the boos, jeers and cupcake signs that Thunder fans taunted Durant during his returns to Oklahoma City.
“Three years ago, we were thrilled with the arrival of Kevin Durant, a transformative NBA player and one of the best to ever play the game,” Lacob said in a statement. “He provided our fans and franchise with numerous highlights during his stay here — two NBA championships, two NBA Finals MVPs, three trips to the Finals, unparalleled efficiency — and carried himself with class and dignity both on and off the court.”
The Warriors also traded Andre Iguodoala to the Memphis Grizzlies in move to dump salary. The Warriors have not released a statement yet on Iguodala, who signed with the Warriors as a free agent in 2013 before playing a key role in the Warriors’ three NBA championships as a reserve and versatile playmaker and defender. That is because Iguodala is still under contract. That will be lifted when the NBA moratorium ends on Saturday. So for now, the Warriors expressed gratitude to Durant.
“His commitment to our community was evident each day, including last season when his philanthropic efforts earned him the NBA’s annual Community Assist Award,” Lacob said in the statement. “Today, as he starts a new chapter in his incredible career, we thank KD for all of his contributions, for being an integral part to one of the most prolific runs in NBA history and wish him well as he continues his Hall of Fame journey.”
WRITING WAS ON THE WALL >> It appears Durant got everything he wanted from his Warriors’ experience — and less.
Writing for Bleacher Report, Sean Highkin reports everything we surmised about Durant’s state of mind as he headed for a collision course between his time at Golden State and the 2019 free agent sweepstakes.
Highkin writes that Durant began to become disenchanted after his first season with the Dubs — which ended with a championship.
“With that he thought would come validation, but he and his Golden State teammates quickly became widely reviled for ‘ruining’ the NBA. Fans would never love him the way they did Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.”
“What some found refreshing about the Warriors — their big personalities, their outspokenness on both on- and off-court issues — Durant found distracting. He wanted a team that placed basketball above all else.”
Beck also notes that Durant and Irving agreed prior to last season that they would play together in 2019-20, citing “knowledgeable sources.” Though it wasn’t clear if they’d be in Brooklyn, Manhattan or even Boston, that was not going to happen with the Warriors.
If the lack of credit drove Durant to plan his exit, the Warriors’ circus solidified it.
The just-concluded season, which the Warriors hoped would end with a third consecutive NBA championship, was wall-towall spectacle — the addition of a fifth All-Star in DeMarcus Cousins, the omnipresent talk about a three-peat, the on-court spat between Green and Durant, the team’s intermittent inclination to go through the motions. The postseason was grueling just to watch.
Highkin: “Considering the tensions between Durant and Green and the near-constant speculation about (Durant’s) future felt like the logical conclusion of that run even before Durant’s significant injury.
“If he was frustrated by the lack of personal credit he got in Golden State, he’ll get plenty by winning in Brooklyn. Any hardware he picks up in his third stop will mean more because he did it on his terms.”
It says here you can’t have it both ways. Durant is a huge NBA personality, craving credit, seeking validation and looking for his share of the love. And the byproduct of all that is industrialstrength distractions.
He has a shot at earning that validation in Brooklyn, but as for removing distractions ... has he met Irving or the New York media?
KLAY DOES IT HIS WAY >> Klay Thompson announced he’s signing a max contract to stay with the Warriors in the most Klay Thompson way on Monday.
Thompson posted a raucous clip on his Instagram account from “The Wolf of Wall Street” to confirm reports he’s taking a fiveyear, $190 million deal. The clip he posted shows actor Leonardo
DiCaprio’s character defiantly claiming he isn’t going anywhere.
Klay Thompson announced he’s signing a max contract to stay with the Warriors in the most Klay Thompson way on Monday.
Thompson posted a raucous clip on his Instagram account from “The Wolf of Wall Street” to confirm reports he’s taking a fiveyear, $190 million deal. The clip he posted shows actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s character defiantly claiming he isn’t going anywhere. BELL MINNESOTA BOUND >> Amid the Warriors’ flailing interest and a hope to maximize his role, Jordan Bell accepted a one-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, a league source confirmed to Bay Area News Group. Yahoo! Sports first reported the news.
The Rockets, Thunder and Jazz also expressed interest in Bell, according to a league source. But Bell found Minnesota most appealing because it appeared he would have a bigger role there.
The Warriors had issued Bell a $1.8 million qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent. But the Warriors have no plans to match Bell’s offer sheet, in hopes to maximize cap space available to retain Kevon Looney.
Bell had sought other possibilities after the Warriors acquired D’Angelo Russell. While the Warriors made that move to collect assets to compensate for Durant’s departure, it also limited the Warriors financially with a so-called “hard cap.” Therefore, the Warriors could not realistically retain Bell.