Kevin Durant Didn’t Think About What He Was Leaving Behind When He Joined The Nets

It’s Media Day in some places around the NBA, and with the way free agency panned out this offseason, that means introducing a lot of new faces to their new franchises and fan bases around the league. Nobody made more waves this summer than the Brooklyn Nets, who pulled off a massive coup when they landed both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

Each took to the podium on Friday to offer their thoughts on why they made their decisions and what we can expect from them in the coming season. Durant, of course, will likely miss the entire year as he continues to rehabilitate from the devastating Achilles injury he suffered during the Finals.

But that didn’t stop him from opening up about why he decided to the leave the Warriors and seek a fresh start elsewhere. Durant was somewhat circumspect, offering no salacious tidbits about any lingering resentment with his former franchise, instead explaining that he had to compartmentalize his feelings in order to arrive at his decision.

“I just did it,” Durant said. “I didn’t really think about what I was leaving behind or what we accomplished. I put that up on the shelf already. When it was time to make a decision on my future I thought solely about me.”

Taken out of context, that soundbite could come off as somewhat selfish, but Durant was speaking more to his goal of looking toward what the future might hold instead of focusing on prior accomplishments. It’s a shame that we’ll have to wait a full year to find out what the Nets are capable of, but those possibilities will give us no shortage of topics to speculate about from now until his return.