Kevin Durant took a lot of heat – and still does to this day – for his decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2016 and sign with the Golden State Warriors. There was a noisy contingent of fans who accused him of being disloyal and eviscerated him for jumping on the Warriors bandwagon.
And Durant didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor about it for a long while there. In fact, he was pretty thin-skinned when it came to that topic, to the point that he was arguing with haters on social media on the day of Golden State’s championship parade and later using burner accounts to go at Twitter trolls.
But at least for now it seems Durant has grown slightly more willing to poke fun at himself. Here’s what he had to say when asked about whether he plans to exercise his player option to remain with the Warriors next season.
Via Anthony Slater of The Athletic:
Is it 100 percent, in your mind, that you will be back with the Warriors next season?
“Yeah,” Durant said. “Yeah.”
“Well, actually,” Durant said, his sarcastic grin obvious, ready to lean into an Internet joke about him. “I want to wait to see who wins the championship and whoever wins that, that’s who I’m going to sign with.”
What on the surface seems like a self-deprecating joke is clearly tinged with a healthy bit of bravado about the Warriors’ chances this season. But it’s also just the type of hubris that could come back and haunt him if the Warriors don’t manage to take home the title.
You can bet his detractors will have this quote locked and loaded if that turns out to be the case.
