NBA: Nets Forward Felt Like An Outsider Before Summer Move

Kevin Durant finally accepted that one of the reasons he left the Golden State Warriors this summer was because of the realization that he will never be considered one of their own like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson or Draymond Green. The question of whether the small forward will remain with the Bay Area team or not went on throughout last season, with many experts predicting his departure for this very same reason.

The 30-year-old arrived in Oakland from Oklahoma City in 2016 in what is still considered a controversial move – for which he is yet to be forgiven – but achieved immediate success alongside Curry, Thompson, Green and Iguodala. He won two straight NBA titles and picked up the NBA Finals MVP on both occasions, underlining his importance to the team.

Even the likes of Curry and Thompson acknowledged that he was the best player in the team and the fans were equally in awe. However, he was not revered in the community like Curry, who is considered one of their own having come through the draft and the Warriors will always be Curry’s team.

Durant admitted that despite being accepted by the Warriors family, he still felt like an outsider as he was not ingrained into the community and also not having come through the ranks like the other players. He was already an MVP when he got to the Warriors, he was already considered among the best in the league.

“I came in there wanting to be part of a group, wanting to be part of a family, and definitely felt accepted,” Durant told the Wall Street Journal. “But I’ll never be one of those guys. I didn’t get drafted there.”

“Steph Curry, obviously drafted there. Andre Iguodala, won the first Finals, first championship. Klay Thompson, drafted there. Draymond Green, drafted there. And the rest of the guys kind of rehabilitated their careers there. So me? S**t, how you going to rehabilitate me? What you going to teach me? How can you alter anything in my basketball life? I got an MVP already. I got scoring titles.

“As time went on,” he added, “I started to realize I’m just different from the rest of the guys. It’s not a bad thing. Just my circumstances and how I came up in the league. And on top of that, the media always looked at it like KD and the Warriors. So it’s like nobody could get a full acceptance of me there.”

Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets in free agency this summer where he will team up with Kyrie Irving. He is certain to be the de-facto leader in the team once he returns from injury but he is unlikely to earn the same admiration Curry receives from the Warriors faithful. But he could earn legend status if he takes the franchise to the title in the next couple of seasons.