Kevin Durant’s decision to sign with the Golden State Warriors will live on as one of the most controversial moves in NBA history, but the nine-time All-Star dove a little deeper into his reasoning for joining a team that recently finished the most successful regular season in league history, according to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic:
“At that time in my career, I didn’t know how other people felt about my game.
And I knew that I was pretty damn good and I knew I worked extremely hard, but I needed that validation from my peers and teams and GMs, people that are really into the game, to really help me feel good about myself and help me feel confident and let me know that what I was doing was working.
So when they all came, and they all put stuff to the side to come to the meeting, I was like, man, this is amazing.
Best team in the League, some of the best players, most accomplished players want me on their team and want what I do, what I bring to the table. It was pretty cool, you know what I’m saying?”
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala notably cleared their schedules to make a trip to the Hamptons in the summer of 2016 to recruit Durant, which notably earned them the name ‘The Hamptons 5’.
Nearly two years later, the former MVP’s decision is still under scrutiny, but there’s no denying the overwhelming success of the Durant-era Warriors, with the team just two wins away from claiming back-to-back NBA titles with Durant as a featured player on one of the greatest teams ever established.
