"We had to get that s**t all out, we didn't" Kevin Durant and Draymond Green on how the Golden State Warriors management mishandled their argument in 2018
Draymond Green and Kevin Durant were integral pieces to the Golden State Warriors team that won back-to-back titles in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. They were also able to reunite on the same team for Team USA's gold medal run at the Tokyo Olympics.
However, their relationship with one another has been fractious and their unresolved feud in 2018 was still reportedly a frustrating issue for both players. It is no secret that the two butted heads on occasion as teammates, with the on-court bust up while playing the LA Clippers a famous example.
On Wednesday, in the much-anticipated interview between the two players, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green addressed what happened at Staples Center and discussed how they felt the Golden State Warriors management handled the situation. Green, in particular, explained his side of the story and what happened the day after which Durant agreed with:
"We met the next morning, and they said 'All right, you slept on it, you ready to apologize? I said, 'Y'all about to f**k this up, the only person that can make this right is me and K. And there is nothing y'all can do and y'all are going to f**k this up' and in my opinion they f**ked it up."
What happened between Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors?
Draymond Green and Kevin Durant have always worn their hearts on their sleeves and are not afraid to speak out. So it was no surprise that they confronted one another on occasion while playing together with the Golden State Warriors, and it is also no surprise that they were happy to complain about the way the organization dealt with their feud in 2018.
After rebounding the ball in the final few seconds of a tied game, Green, instead of passing the ball to Kevin Durant who was clapping for it, dribbled down the court and lost control of possession with time expiring. In the huddle afterward, there was obviously a heated debate going on between the two players with neither happy at how the situation had unfolded.
But Durant was happy to squash the issue before it became a storyline for the media to make bigger. Instead, in the interview, he discussed how he was unhappy with the way the team and management dealt with the situation directly after it had happened.
"It wasn't the argument. It was the way that everybody, Steve Kerr, acted like it didn't happen. Bob Myers then tried to just discipline you and think that that would just put the mask over everything... We had to get that s**t all out. We needed to just throw all that s**t out on the table and say 'Yo, Dray, K, that was f**ked up that we even had to go through that. Let's just wipe our hands of it and go finish the task.' We didn't do that."
Had the Golden State Warriors dealt with the 'feud' more effectively, perhaps they would have gone on to even more success with Kevin Durant in the side. As it was, they would go on to lose to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals, in which Durant tore his right achilles tendon.
Kevin Durant subsequently moved to the Brooklyn Nets and injuries continued to plague the Golden State Warriors, forcing them to miss the last two postseasons.