There may have been nobody more surprised than Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors this summer than one of his new teammates — and good friend — Draymond Green.
Green, who will also be playing with Durant at the Rio Olympics this Summer, recently spoke to The Vertical and opened up about his friendship with Durant, one that isn’t what he thinks most people make it out to be.
After Durant put pen to paper and joined Golden State, rumors surfaced that Russell Westbrook — his old running partner in Oklahoma City — was put off by Durant’s relationship with Green, especially when the two were facing off on opposite sides during the Western Conference Finals this year.
But, according to Green, the recruitment angle to their relationship was significantly overblown.
“Me and KD are friends,” Green told The Vertical. “People making it seem like I texted him every day like, ‘Yo, we want you to come to the Warriors!’ I text him, he texts me, like, ‘What’s up? How you doing?’
“A lot of times, people forget we’re human. We go through a lot of the same stuff when it comes to dealing with everything, so sometimes, it’s just good to hear from a brother who is going through some stuff, like, ‘How are you doing with this? How are you dealing with that?’ It’s refreshing. So I think, more than anything … people are like, ‘He’s calling KD during the season, they’re recruiting him.’ For what? No need to do that. We’re friends! I never thought it was a problem being someone’s friend. But that’s what people are making it out to be. At this point, it don’t even matter anymore … obviously.”
Despite his friendship with Durant, Green still didn’t expect the former Thunder forward to choose the Warriors in free agency, even when his list kept narrowing down.
When Durant ultimately chose Golden State, Green says he was “shocked.”
“You don’t get a top-three player in the world – some would say best player in the world, it’s all someone’s opinion – you don’t get that every day. That’s just not normal,” Green said. “I’m not going to act like this is something that happens every day. This is one of the biggest moves in NBA history. Like, I hope everybody else was shocked, if I am.”
And with the addition of Durant to a team that already had three All-Stars in the starting five and just finished with the best regular season in the history of the league, there’s obviously some concern that there’s only one basketball to go around. Green arguably stands to sacrifice the most with the addition of KD, but he doesn’t seem worried about the possibility of losing minutes or stats.
“Long as you win, everything else takes care of itself,” Green told The Vertical. “I’d sacrifice everything for championships. When you win, you don’t really sacrifice anything because everybody gets love when you win. That’s kind of my thing. If you’re a winner, you can’t really be denied too much of anything. I don’t mind sacrificing anything for championships, and that’s what we set out to do, win championships.”
Although reigning MVP Steph Curry won’t be heading to Rio to participate in the Olympics, the Summer Games will give Warriors fans a nice little preview of what they can expect from Green, Durant and Klay Thompson on the floor together next season. Green, for his part, is understandably excited, saying he believes they “can do some special things” in Golden State.
(Via The Vertical)
