
In the nearly two years since he announced his decision to leave Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, nine-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant has dealt with an inordinate amount of hate from fans throughout the league. The Warriors were already the best team in the league without Durant, and then they added the best player in the world, non-LeBron-James category. Initially, Durant struggled to accept his newfound status as villain of the NBA; in September 2017, Durant felt regret, asking his manager, Rich Kleiman, “why the f— did you let me do this to my life?” Durant took to Twitter to defend himself via burner accounts, and accidentally posted tweets defending himself, in the third person, to his official Twitter account. He had a rough go of it.
It appears Durant is getting more comfortable with his decision, however. When asked about the charge that many hold against him, that he “ruined the NBA,” Durant said the following (via Yahoo Sports’ Michael Lee):
“My responsibility is to my skills. My responsibility is to myself,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I’m not worried about the NBA. That’s their job. They make too much money. They ain’t paying me enough to dictate the NBA. I should be making more money if all that’s on me. My responsibility is to whatever team I play for. All that other stuff, that’s on y’all.”
This seems like a fair take from Durant. He chose to work with people he likes in the Bay Area over Oklahoma City. That’s not a crime. The argument frequently made is that by creating such a monstrous team, the Warriors have flatlined the competitive nature of the league. The counterargument: They almost lost to the Houston Rockets in the playoffs, so there’s at least some competition, right?
However people feel toward him, the move to Golden State has clearly worked out for Durant; two Finals MVPs in two seasons ain’t too shabby.