Kevin Durant said Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul “made it tough” to turn down the Clippers in free agency, as Anthony Slater of The Bay Area News Group passes along.
“Those guys are tremendous, unbelievable talents,” Durant said. “DJ is a close friend. CP, been knowing him since I was in high school…All that other stuff [doesn’t matter]. I’ve been in L.A. every summer. Facilities, all that stuff is the same to me. As long as you have a court and the ball. The players, that’s what made it tough. They did a great job.”
Here’s more from Los Angeles:
- Durant met Jordan years ago when he served as the center’s host for a recruiting visit at the University of Texas and the two remain close despite him choosing to play for a rival, Slater relays in the same piece. “He wanted me to come to the Clippers, but he’s going to be my friend no matter what,” Durant said.
- Durant’s decision to join the Warriors created backlash, which is something Jordan knows well from his own free agency during the previous summer, Slater notes in the same piece. “I think that’s what we kind of had in common,” Durant said. “Him making [the decision to turn down the Mavericks] was bold, it was a tough decision, it made him uncomfortable, but it grew him as a person and as a basketball player. I felt the same way about my decision. It made conversation. It made us get to know each other better and having things in common as far as work related. It helped having someone that could relate to what I went through.”
- Alan Anderson, who signed a one-year, minimum salary deal with the Clippers over the summer, is fitting in with the team despite not receiving the minutes that he’s accustomed to seeing, Rowan Kavner of NBA.com writes. “[Anderson] wants to play, like everyone else, but if you had to vote for the MVP teammate, I think he wins hands down,” coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s gone through that frustration of trying to train and not play, yet if you watched our bench during the games, you would never know it.”
“Him making [the decision to turn down the Mavericks] was bold”… oh come on, he said he would sign with Mavs and then didn’t, Jordan would have had almost no backslash outside of clippers fans.