Stephen Curry has “no hard feelings, no resentment” toward Kevin Durant for not wanting to return to the Warriors, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
As Curry, Durant and LeBron James get ready to reunite at All-Star Weekend for the first time since the Summer Olympics, Youngmisuk examines the failed trade attempts that would have teamed up Curry and James last season and Curry and Durant a week ago. The latest deal was scuttled when Durant told Curry that it “didn’t feel right” and “wasn’t the time” for him to return to the Bay Area.
“You need everybody to be all bought in no matter what the history you have,” Curry said. “And I respect KD. It’s all about having peace of mind and happiness. Neither one of us controlled that [trade] situation. It’s just you want to make sure somebody wants to be somewhere. Other than that, I’m not trying to convince anybody to be somewhere they don’t want to be.”
Durant was reportedly blindsided by the proposed three-team deal, which also involved Jimmy Butler going from Miami to Phoenix. Durant hadn’t considered leaving the Suns, although his future appears less certain this summer as he heads into the final year of his contract.
Durant enjoyed the greatest success of his long career during his three seasons with Golden State, making three straight trips to the NBA Finals and earning Finals MVP honors as the Warriors won titles in 2017 and 2018.
However, there was a downside, as Durant was frequently criticized for leaving Oklahoma City in free agency in 2016 to sign with a Warriors team that was coming off a 73-win season. Durant also had a highly publicized on-court dispute with Draymond Green, and there were reports that he wasn’t fully happy sharing the spotlight with Curry. After suffering an Achilles tear during the 2019 Finals, Durant left Golden State to sign with Brooklyn.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he completely understands any reluctance Durant has to come back.
“I don’t blame Kevin one bit for not wanting to rerun things here,” said Kerr, who also coached Durant in the Olympics. “He took so much s— for like, ‘Oh, you’re jumping on the bandwagon’ [when he signed with Golden State as a free agent in 2016]. And then he’s Finals MVP two years in a row. It’s like he still gets criticized. So why would he want to face all that B.S. again?”
Curry adds that he doesn’t expect things to be awkward “at all” with Durant when they get together this weekend. Instead of focusing on the decision to nix the trade, Curry wants to savor the time he gets to spend with Durant and James, recognizing that there won’t be many more opportunities as they all near the end of their careers.
Youngmisuk notes that things have turned out fine for the Warriors, who were able to acquire Butler directly from Miami when the Durant deal fell through. Golden State is 3-1 since Butler arrived, and Curry is confident that his team can handle anyone in a seven-game series.
“I think it all worked out as it probably was supposed to,” Kerr said. “For Jimmy, it’s a fresh start. For us, it’s a different vibe, different look. Kevin didn’t feel [a reunion], so it wouldn’t have been healthy for him to come here or for us if he didn’t want to be here. Obviously, we would’ve been thrilled with either one of them. But I think it all worked out as it was supposed to.”
Sometimes, you just have to accept that the past is past. You can’t live there forever. Eventually, you have to move on. Celebrate the good; learn from the bad.
I think the Warriors lucked out when Kevin Durant said no.
I think I’d rather have Jimmy Butler, but I guess that’s a little biased hindsight. maybe a lot of biased hindsight.
The swagger and the mamba that Jimmy brings is a different vibe than the excellent scoring shooting and pretty good defense that Kevin Durant provides.
Jimmy makes players around him better whereas Durant is just a machine who can put you on his back and carry you.
But yeah, the way Graymond burned the bridge with the Durant, there’s no way that was happening. But in my opinion, the Warriors are better off with Jimmy.
100% better with Jimmy. Less turnovers, more steals, more assists, and takes higher percentage shots, more reliable in the crunch time, and wants to win more than KD.
Michol, your absurd KD hate makes you look like a bitter idiot who doesn’t know ball. We know this isnt true, so reel it in please. GSW is never losing another game if they traded Wiggins, Dennis and Slomo for KD. You can argue the Jimmy trade was better for depth, but KD is better than Jimmy.
Davey, what you don’t know also is that trade involving KD was not for the same players we gave up for Butler. it would have cost us Kuminga, and probably Podz so in retrospect, the Butler trade was better for us. I forever live KD for his time as a warrior but most of us long time fans would rather have the Butler trade than the KD trade because KD is very thin skinned, spins too much time fighting with reporters, random idiots on Twitter, and other players. He also doesn’t play dog like defense like Butler. not hate, just different perspective when looking at the whole picture.
I know, that’s the whole point of my reply. KD is better than Jimmy, but cost more to acquire. Michol flipped that to “KD actually isnt as good as Jimmy” which is never true.
KD is a 6’11” Jimmy.
I was a huge KD fan at GS and felt that he was wronged by Dray and Front office including Kerr, but results dont lie. He hasnt done anything at Bklyn and Phoenix aside from creating drama and getting paid. He made all kinds of excuses and is not interested in winning anymore. He was awesome superstar at GS but not anymore.
KD career PPG: 27.3
KD current PPG: 27.3
KD is KD.
C’mom man, not all points are same especially in garbage games.
Good lord dude. Pull it together.
This is insane lol
Durant is far better than Butler.
Not close.
Kerr only played Post 7 minutes last night, maybe he didn’t like the physicality that Houston brought versus him? Also Pods had a nice game too. I’m going to monitor other teams players that were rumored to be traded for Vu now. This is what my life has come down too as a Bulls fan lmao. So please be patient with my thoughts/opinions.
Sounds like the Bulls over played Vu value and got stuck with him. If they did want a unprotected 1st round pick he is not close worth that much. Next year he has just 1 year left on the contract so his worth will be way down. They need to trade Collins and Huerter in the offseason. If White doesn’t resign trade him too. Bulls need to just stock up on all draft picks they can get.
Arc, No Bulls fan was expecting a 1st round pick in return whether it was lottery or unprotected. That was all clout from the team, fans and Joe Cowley who is the beat writer for the Bulls. The fact that they declined GP2, Looney and 2 2nd rounders is hilarious. I agree with you on trading Collins or Huerter but I rather keep Collins, what is his worth? Probably less than Vu. You probably get an expiring contract that’s really it. Plus if your goal is to trade Vu in the offseason, Collins would the defactor starting 5 on a rebuilding/tank team. Huerter I heard airballed a dunk, which somehow sounds worse than what it probably looked like. His value and stock has rescinded since 2022 and unless you attach a pick along with his deal, he won’t get traded either. Most likely, they could buy him out but this is Jerry Reinsdorf that we are talking about. LMAO he won’t pay $17M for a player to sit on the couch or on the bench. I’m sure next year Jahil Okafor will be on the team as the next hometown feel good story for this team.
“Drive towards excellence” is most owners motto/philosophy. Ours is “Drive towards attendance.”
@raz427
Dubs owners lucked on Steph and are just doing the bare minimum to show they care while looking to earn maximum profits. See Kuminga contract status and the recent statement by Lacob. If they really are driving for excellence then Kuminga and the Dubs would have already met sonewhere in the middle for a contract and yet here we are. Investing instead on a 35 yr old Butler. Sure he can help in a win now move but how about for the future? Havent seen anything done about that but well see by the offseason.
Its just sad how badly the Bulls have fallen in just the last 3 years. They went from a team on the rise to now one of the worse 3 teams in the league next year. Their payroll will be low to sign somebody if they don’t get desperate and over pay Giddey or White. They need to sign some good young payers with the cap space not old vets.
3 years? Try since 2015. We’ve been a bumbling circus act. Don’t even get me started on the HC who they hired before Donovan. He hasn’t been heard or seen from since for VERY good reason lmao
Part of Kerr’s thinking is that Podz has shaken off his early season slump. Moody is also carving out time in the Warriors lineup. There’ll be more changes coming when Kuminga is back. Their biggest issue now will be what to do when Curry, Butler and Green are not on the floor. The rest have to step up. They also need to learn how to close out games.
Yeah Podz has been pretty darn good in the past few weeks. He looks like whatever was bothering him earlier is no longer there. Plus his aggressiveness crashing the boards with Butler has been fun to watch.
Moody def looks like he’s more comfortable and showing some great stretches. If he can just string multiple quality stretches, Kerr has no choice but to play him more often (and should).
I’m not stressed or worried about Post. Rookie year … anything he provides will be gravy. He’ll have a lot to work on in the offseason, but his shooting ability seems legit!
JK getting back, I think he’ll probably help lead that 2nd unit when it slogs down sometimes.
Durant is undoubtedly better than Butler, but the cost of giving up Butler makes this trade better than the Durant one, imo. GSW was planning to trade so many assets they’d just end up the Suns 2.0, and personally I think that top heavy model is terrible and can never work in the current NBA.
Durant joining via free agency was a huge part of why it worked last time. Warriors already had a complete team to put around him.
KD failed in BKLN amd in Phoenix. He aint better than Jimmy, not anymore. He’s just another journeyman who only cares about stats and not winning.
smh cmon man
I want KD to step up right now at Phoenix. He has all the talent there and a great owner. Get it done, that’s what superstars do.
He doesn’t have the talent, its just KD and Booker – the Suns are too top-heavy and handicapped by the underperforming Bradley Beal’s contract.
But he wanted to go to Phonix because he waa a great fit there, and he waa the one who askes for Beal.
Beal is just another example of how difficult it is to take a guy who is used to being the number one option and tell him he’s now third in line. Melo couldn’t do it, neither could Westbrook. love, bosch and Garnett are the only guys who have been able to pull it off, and they all play the 4/5.
“just another journeyman”
Way to let everyone know not to take you seriously.
Durant ain’t Garrett temple you doofus.
He’s turning into another Westbrook
Westbrook might win a ring this year btw
By that logic Jimmy failed in Minnesota and Philly. Considering how it ended you can probably include Miami.
Man, I really wanted KD to win it all the yr MIL won. That would have been a legacy making title. Instead everything has been nothing but drama.
I think people have some wrong ideas about the Warriors. People always focus on the “Splash Brothers” and (cough) “Small ball” (?). They forget that sacrifice and strong team defense, led by Draymond, is what really won those Championships. If offense is all you needed, Don Nelson would have had 5 rings when he coached the Warriors…Phoenix currently has one of worst defenses in the NBA.
agree. what makes it all the more amazing is that Steph was a below average defender for all of their prime stretch, yet they were still an elite defensive unit.
Durant didn’t want to be Curry’s sidekick again is what it came down too. Only feelings I have on this is the warriors shouldn’t retire his number since he was only on the team a few years.
So he played with Kyrie and Booker who are like 85% as good as Steph?
KD left because of Kerr.
KD left because he thinks he can claim to be the only reason a team wins a championship
Hard to be mad at the guy directly responsible for two championships Steph might not have without him
KD was “responsible”? Uh…That is a big no. They won without him. The 22 champions was weaker than any of the KD teams. They also had to basically give up Bogut, Ezeli and Barnes to get KD. They probably could still have one.
Um you do realize he won finals MVP both of those years right. So he was the best player on team. How else would you define responsible for winning? Before he got to GS that team had quite literally the worst meltdown in NBA Finals History. Also I know people love to forget and edit history but that championship in 2015 happened because both Kyrie and Kevin Love were injured and couldn’t play. So yes KD was directly responsible for the wins in 17 and 18.
I agree with DarkGhost. KD was the best player on both title teams. That Game 3 pull up dagger 3 against LBJ will be shown for the next 50 years. Best player on a historically great team.
Explain how they won in 22 without KD. That team definitely wasn’t better. They barely made it through the season.
The post had nothing to do with 22 it was talking about 17 and 18. 22 is an entirely different conversation.
Next time. Be specific.
Bro the article and comment is referring to a reunion with KD and the warriors. He was on the Warriors from 17-19 exactly how much more spelled out does it have to be what time period we are talking about
And injuries are part of the game. Those injuries to Love and Kyrie weren’t due to the Warriors. There are plenty of such instances where one of the teams wasn’t 100% in the finals. For eg Jordan won his first title against an injured Lakers team, 2020 Lakers won against at injured Heat team etc. Warriors would have three peated if they weren’t injured in 2019. See how this works?
Yeah, KD won finals MVP in 2017 and 2018 so why hasn’t he been able to make the finals since? Hes played with stacked rosters since then. So why is that his two rings only came with Golden State? Lets see if he’ll ever win one without Curry.
Yes and injuries are a part of the game, they can also affect the outcome so I’m not sure exactly what you’re even talking about there.
To answer the second part, what has KD done since 17 and 18. Idk I’m old to remember that after that the warriors made the finals in 2019 with one small difference. KD was hurt and couldn’t play and can you remind me what the outcome of that series was? Oh yeah they lost. So like said the 17 and 18 championships were directly because of Kevin Durant.
You are forgetting that Klay played with a hamstring problem and ruptured his Achilles. His lose also made it a problem for the Warriors to repeat. So, it was not directly KD. It was a number of factors.
Bro Klay averaged 26 a game in the 2019 finals, 4.5 points more per game than he did in the regular season that year. Everyone that is being honest knows exactly why they didn’t beat the raptors because KD wasn’t healthy and then got hurt immediately once coming back. Bottom line is no matter how much any of you warrior fans want to twist it is the championships in 17 and 18 are because of KD and the reason they lost in 19 is because he wasn’t healthy. So like I said at the very start of the entire thread hard for curry to be mad at the guy that was responsible for two of his rings.
Curry won won a ring in 22 against a much bigger and better Celtics team without KD. KD may have made it easier. But, he wasn’t the sole reason.
I honestly think they would’ve won at least 1 without KD. They had a ton of cap space available after jettisoning some of their bench and Klay was peaking too, before his injury. Would’ve been an interesting sliding doors moment.
Yeah, Warriors were one game away from a championship in 2016. As you said, they had the cap space and certainly would have brought in some other player.
They had no cap space. KD used it all up.
I was referring to if KD hadn’t signed …
KD would have like 6 rings by now if he stayed at GSW. He is the dumbest person in NBA history, just off that, who prevented rings so he could play on ringless franchises who go nowhere. Kerr wouldnt let him play over 32 MPG, therefore, Kerr destroyed history, it’s all Kerr’s fault.
Imagine coming to this site to stalk a single anonymous poster.
Ultimate-loser type behavior.
You people dont know ball or how to act like a normal effing human. You were all raised wrong, you are all gangstalking and bullying me in front of site mods. Breaking TOS because I live rent-free in your heads. Gross. I will continue to stay on topic. Calling me out for saying 32 mins = 33 mins isnt the own you think it is. It proves my point, actually. I’m not allowed to be even 0% off? Its NBA takes, not rocket science, why you goal post moving? The goal posts will always move with raz427 and tallballers, because they dont even care about the convo, its just about harassing and bullying and gangstalking me, they both deserve to be banned for TARGETED HARASSMENT!
Youre the one blabbering about numbers as if they were facts. Now that the numbers were shown, you start crying. What a loser. Go back to your grandmas basement little boi
Nobody bullied you. Lmao I just showed you numbers and 33 is 32? I literally showed you he played 34 and 38 in playoffs. You have some weird pseudo obsession with Kerr and it’s nauseated everyone on this site. Point and simple YDKLB.
Sit this one out and take the L.
Another Davey J post filled with inaccurate information. Just did a fact check.
KD’s MPG in 3 years with GSW.
(3 years regular season)
2016-17 33.4
2017-18 34.2
2017-18 34.6
3 years (Playoffs)
2016-17 35.2
2017-18 38.4
2018-19 36.8
” Kerr wouldnt let him play over 32 MPG, therefore, Kerr destroyed history, it’s all Kerr’s fault.”
LMAO in fact if you look at MPG each season, Klay/Curry and KD all had more than 33 MPG. in 2016-17. Same with 2017-18. Same with 2018-19. All 3 guys played more than 32+MPG.
Thank you.
Davey also thinks that Kerr is a “nepobaby”. Of course, Steve is the only one in his family that has anything to do with basketball.
Maybe he thinks that Johnny “Red” Kerr is his son? Because he was here in Chicago and our analyst was Red Kerr? LMAO
Say it louder for the Davey J aligned posters!
Curry is 100% right. Durant got ragged on for winning fake rings, heard all the noise, and bolted to win a ring on his own. Did he make some very poor choices on on where he went and who he played with? Absolutely. Did he try to influence personnel decisions and let his personal feelings get in the way? Sure. But I can understand where he was coming from given the context. For all his talk and talent, KD is a pretty insecure person and I think that caused him to double down on those poor choices in desperation. Such is life.