Kevin Durant’s free agency decision in July is still very much a topic of conversation. With the Warriors meeting the Knicks for a game on Thursday, the conversation this time centered on New York.
Asked about why he didn’t choose the Knicks in free agency, Durant had this simple, yet perfect, response, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:
Even with this proximity and pleas from Carmelo Anthony, Durant said he decided against sitting down with New York’s brass for a “simple” reason.
“Uh, because I didn’t want to.”
Durant went on to clarify a little bit about his decision:
“I didn’t want to lead anybody on,” Durant said. “I got a lot of friends in the league. I got calls throughout the summer. But I made the best decision I wanted to make, the best decision for me, I’m happy I’m here. All that stuff is in the past. Melo and I remain great friends. That’s what’s most important. We didn’t let that get in between the friendship.”
That’s all well and good and probably mostly true. But the main reason behind not choosing (or even meeting with) the Knicks is pretty clear. New York is nowhere near the level of a team that Durant wanted to join right now.
Kevin Durant pretty obviously wanted to win and did not necessarily care about being the clear best player on the team on which he did it. The Warriors were the perfect choice based on that; the Knicks were not.
