Kevin Durant has never been shy when addressing criticism throughout his career but one in particular irked him when the Warriors won this past summer’s NBA championship. Durant, who won his two NBA titles while with Golden State, admitted there was one aspect of the Warriors winning a championship without him that he hated.
“I can’t lie: Watching the Finals, I knew so many people would turn their focus on me once they won,” Durant told The Washington Post. “I was like, I hate that they won because y’all not going to make it about them; it’s going to be all about me. I think it’s just a childish way of looking at that experience. I feel like you can take it all in and appreciate what they did and not even talk about me. I was just sitting at home. But I get how it is.”
Durant infamously left the Thunder in his 2016 free agency to join the Warriors, the team that eliminated his squad from the ’16 playoffs and also won an NBA-record 73 games in the regular season. He drew criticism for joining a rival team with already All-Star talent that included Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Despite winning two titles in three years with Golden State—and winning Finals MVP in both of them—Durant has always despised the notion he was just along for the ride with one of the best teams ever assembled.
“I hated that,” Durant said. “Riding coattails? That’ll never happen when I’m playing basketball. Either I’m going to step back, so you can go ahead and do your thing, or I’m going to take control.”
Durant left the Warriors in 2019 after tearing his Achilles, and since then hasn’t found the same playoff success with the Nets while Golden State was able to win their fourth title in seven years.
