Kevin Durant and Draymond Green got into a verbal altercation during the closing seconds of regulation in the team’s overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on November 12, with the situation continuing into the locker room. This includes Green ‘daring’ the former MVP to leave the Warriors, who defeated him in the 2016 Western Conference Finals while he was still with the Oklahoma City Thunder before succumbing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Team owner Joe Lacob recently spoke on the situation, emphasizing that the team won’t side with one All-Star over the other, according to Al Saracevic of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“I’ve read and heard all the things people are talking about. That we’re choosing one person over another. We’re not choosing anybody over anybody.”
Green, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, was ultimately the one to pay the price for the altercation, as he was suspended the next game without pay. Simultaneously, the chance of Durant returning to the Warriors past this season is looking bleaker than ever as the team’s chemistry wanes.
The Warriors have struggled mightily in Stephen Curry’s absence as well, as the team has lost four of their last five games and five of their last seven, currently tied with the Portland Trail Blazers for the top spot in the Western Conference. This stretch of games has easily been the Warriors’ worst since Steve Kerr became the head coach of the team prior to the 2014-15 NBA season.
Lacob will now have to see if his team can get out of their recent slump and start to play at the championship-caliber level that he has become accustomed to watching over the last few campaigns.
