“I was more locked in”: Kevin Durant reveals how spat with Draymond Green affected the Warriors
by Amulya ShekharAppearing on JJ Redick’s ‘The Old Man and the Three’ podcast 2 days ago, Kevin Durant made a surprising revelation about how his spat with Draymond went down.
The Clippers beat the Warriors to end a home skid on November 13, 2018 by a 121-116 margin in overtime. This victory came about after the two teams ended regulation tied at 106 apiece.
The spat went down on the Warriors bench at the end of regulation with KD and Draymond jawing at each other. Both looked visibly livid due to the other’s presence on the team.
Kevin Durant explains how he and Draymond grew closer after spat
The disagreement came out of Kevin Durant’s constant demands for the ball in clutch. He wanted the ball to stay with him more while Draymond wanted the ball to be moving. This was even though KD was clearly open with a mismatch in front of him in the final minute of the game.
Durant believes that the spat helped the duo grow closer and the team bonding become stronger. The incident signalled a change in emphasis by the whole team.
Steve Kerr and the coaching staff got KD more involved on offense through the course of the season. Both Draymond and KD seemed to feed off each other’s raw energy for the rest of the season.
“Me and Draymond, we got better after that actually,” Durant said of the Warriors drama. “I felt like I was more locked into the team after that. I felt like he understood me more because we sat down and talked about that whole situation.”
KD ruptured his Achilles in the Finals and sat out this entire season. He left Golden State to join the Nets as a free agent last summer.