Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency almost four years ago, but he didn’t fully explain his decision for leaving until this weekend.
Durant took a shot at his former Thunder teammates, saying he “played with a lot of athletes” but “didn’t play with a lot of skill guys.” Durant was apparently tired of being “the only guy who could make threes” and “make jump shots” consistently.
“I thought what he said was really honest,” NBA reporter and analyst Sekou Smith said on The DA Show. “If that’s how he feels, that’s his right. If his former teammates want to take issue with it, they have every right to do so. But I can imagine where that would get frustrating. If you’re the guy who ultimately draws all that attention on a team where you have other star players who simply aren’t skilled enough in the right areas to help alleviate that pressure, then yeah, I understand you being fed up with it.”
While Durant had every right to leave Oklahoma City, however, his exit strategy was, for many, disrespectful.
“That still doesn’t explain why you left in the way that you left,” Smith said. “The way he talked, he knew long before it came time to make those decisions public that he was on his way out. If your behavior manifested itself in different ways and it led people to speculate about your motives or about your intentions, then that’s all justified as well. Kevin Durant needs to understand that – that as much as he felt frustrated and put upon in certain situations when he was with Oklahoma City, the people’s reaction to it is justified. They have every right just to be as frustrated and put upon to see you leave in the fashion in which you left.”
Durant, 31, played three seasons for the Warriors and won a pair of NBA titles, along with a pair of NBA Finals MVPs. He signed with Brooklyn in July.
“I don’t have a problem with any of it,” Smith said of Durant’s comments. “I think the honesty is what’s best. I wish he would have been this forthcoming about these things in the moment, but you take it where you can get it.”