While most sports fans are peacefully enjoying their Fourth of July weekend, there are a few NBA fans still reliving what Kevin Durant did on July 4, 2016.
Despite nearly leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2016, Durant decided to leave and sign a two-year, $54.3 million contract with the Golden State Warriors. It was a move that felt unnecessary considering the Warriors just went 73-9 without him on the roster.
"The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player -- as that has always steered me in the right direction," Durant wrote in a post for The Players' Tribute. "But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth."
Durant stayed with the Warriors for three seasons, winning two NBA titles and making it to a third Finals before suffering a torn Achilles. He averaged 25.8 points per game for Golden State and was named Finals MVP twice during that brief run.
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
Although the days of Durant and the Warriors terrorizing the league are long gone, fans are still giving him flack 10 years later.
"10 years ago today Kevin Durant ruined my 4th of July," a fan wrote on X.
"I'll never forget, he ruined everybody day with this decision," a second fan said.
"The most disgusting event in the NBA world And I don't think there's a betrayal like it in sports in general," another fan commented. "Durant sacrificed a ring he could've won with OKC, which is a million times better than his rings with the Warriors And it would've been a great legacy for him, not like the legacy of winning rings with the best team in history."
Durant recently defended his decision to join Golden State.
During last month's appearance on the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast, Durant shared his mindset before joining with the Warriors.
"The organization had never been a winning organization. When I was in the league, nobody liked Golden State. It still feels like an underdog to me because I’m looking at the totality of the franchise. I’m not looking at what happened in these last five years. You’ve never been a perennial winner in the NBA from the 1950s on up," Durant said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. "So I’m like, ‘It’s an underdog franchise to me.’ This feels good, like [expletive], this feels like where I’m supposed to be. It ain’t [Los Angeles]. It ain’t New York. It felt like where I’m supposed to be."
We're still not sure how Durant viewed the best team in the league as an "underdog franchise," but what's done is done.
