The Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder have had a burgeoning rivalry for some time that was accentuated by Kevin Durant’s departure from OKC to the Bay.
As is par for the course, the Thunder did not have an especially warm welcome for Durant in his first game back in OKC. No video tributes (the Thunder do not show them as team policy) and plenty of boos from the crowd. ESPN’s Chris Haynes recently reported that members of the Warriors were “furious:” at how the Thunder handled that situation, believing that they had an obligation to qualm some of the hostility around the return.
Soon after the initial report, however, both Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr refuted those rumors. Following via AJ Neuharth-Keusch of USA TODAY Sports:
I don’t agree (with the report),” Kerr told reporters at shootaround in Oklahoma City on Monday, adding that he has yet to read the story. “(Thunder GM) Sam Presti’s a friend of mine. I know (Thunder owner) Clay Bennett. It’s a class organization all the way, so I don’t really pay any attention to a story like that unless there’s an actual name that’s put on it.”
“I assume (the story is) just sources?” Kerr asked. “I don’t know who (the source) is. It’s nobody with the Warriors. We have great respect for the Thunder — Sam’s been a friend of mine forever. They’re first class. So I don’t know where that comes from.”
Warriors point guard Stephen Curry also addressed the report, which he seemed to find some humor in.
“Certain stories that don’t need to see the light of day, don’t need to have any life breathed into them, somehow are the most popular,” Curry said. “That’s kind of how it goes. To me it’s kind of comical what can be put under the spotlight during an 82-game year, when at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to win games and enjoy what we do for a living.”
This whole story is bizarre. It’s not completely out of the realm of the possibility that the Warriors felt disrespected – they feel that way a lot. But they spoke a lot about being ready to face the boos and the hostility and two of their leaders immediately disputed that report.
Who knows what the real story is here? Is it fake news or alternative facts? Perhaps we’ll never know.
