Kevin Durant going to New York in free agency wasn’t a huge surprise, even if the arena where he’ll play his basketball did catch some folks off guard. Durant, who left the Golden State Warriors this past summer, was widely-rumored to have an eye on joining the Knicks. Instead, he and Kyrie Irving joined forces in Brooklyn, giving the Nets the star power they’ve long craved.
Tons of factors go into making these sorts of major life decisions, and Durant is his own person, so speculating on what may or mat not have ultimately factored into his choosing the Nets isn’t anyone’s place. Having said that, Jared Dudley believe he’s able to speak on this because, as he claims, he ultimately gave Durant a piece of advice that swung him to Brooklyn.
Dudley sat down with Bill Oram of The Athletic and explained that he made sure Durant knew that joining the Knicks meant having to go to their practice facility in Westchester, which is a good drive north of the city. Playing for the Nets, however, meant he got to stay in Brooklyn, as the team’s facility in Industry City.
“I’d be getting rid of that practice facility in Westchester,” Dudley said when asked about the Knicks. “Nobody wants to live there, no one wants to commute there. You have to get as close to the city as possible. That’s why Brooklyn got Kevin Durant. I told DeAndre Jordan who told Kevin Durant: The practice facility is two minutes from (Barclays Center). They didn’t even know that. I lived in the city. It took me 12 minutes to get to the practice facility. That’s a huge bonus.”
Dudley is 100 percent correct. If a player wants to live in one of the five boroughs — if you are an NBA player who lives on Staten Island, please get in touch — getting to the Nets’ facility doesn’t take too terribly long, something that is extra true if a player lives in Brooklyn or lower Manhattan. Getting up to the Knicks facility required driving to Tarrytown, a lovely place that takes, if you’re lucky and on the Upper East Side, like 40 minutes to drive to. If you want to live in New York, and I do not know why you would sign for a team unless you’d be (at the bare minimum) fine with living in their city, having to make the trip up to the Knicks’ facility is legitimately a hassle.
Again, a whole lot probably went into Durant’s decision, but it makes a ton of sense why this would be a big selling point for him.
