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HOUSTON – The Warriors have spent the last few weeks throwing all the rose petals they find at the feet of Kevin Durant. They know that he sees them. They do not know if it disturbs to sniff them. They do not know if their efforts translate into influence.
The educated assumption is that this is not the case.
It did not affect Durant's free will before Staples' fight, and it's certainly not the case now that Draymond Green fired those rose petals.
Durant has passed flattery of those who are outside the fraternity of NBA players and those he loves and respects outside of basketball. Of course, he loved it in July 2016, when he set up camp at The Hamptons and invited a group of visitors to present their most compelling stories. At that time, he wanted to feel the power to bring mountains to Muhammad.
He does not want one or will need it next time, in 2019. Durant's next move will be a lot less on what someone says, and much more on what it's like. wants to do.
He will look for something deeper and more important than being reminded of his greatness or even winning basketball games. He will know with deep certainty that a friend's face can change on a whim if an adult man exercises his freedom.
Durant experienced this process with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City. He crosses round 2 with Green. Westbrook's use of "cupcake" to describe Durant is a euphemism for "soft". Green does not make euphemisms. According to several sources, he would have called Durant "bitch". Same thing.
Westbrook unloaded because Durant is gone. Green discharged because he could leave. So, again, Durant deals with friend-foe-friend-foe business usually limited to teens with raging hormones. This is not a game he wants to play.
[POOLE: How the Draymond Green Experience has become big Warriors dilemma]
This is where we note that Durant has never criticized Westbrook's fashionable trends, although others have indicated that it was one of the factors that caused Durant to leave Thunder. Durant did not let himself go to this story, even if it was significant.
Durant left OKC less because he was looking for something better than because he was looking for something more. He came to the Warriors in the hope of playing smart and entertaining basketball with his teammates, in an area that offered something more. It was a test of itself to see if the experience would be as good as he had imagined. And sometimes it was.
Other times, this has not been the case. During last spring, Durant went through some unfortunate moments, particularly visible in the final of the West Conference against the Rockets. The advice of coach Steve Kerr has elicited the opinion of some. Green, still vocal, reminded Durant hard that he had resorted to the kind of insulated basketball that the Warriors preferred to avoid.
Green was not wrong. The Rockets did a great job blurring the offensive circuits of the Warriors, allowing Durant to return to the head-to-head ball that spent most of his time at OKC. He was doing something that he wanted to leave behind.
Now that. Now, Green, who initially recruited Durant from the Warriors, tells Durant that he is gentle and, according to some sources, consumable.
[SHILLER: NBA rumors: Kevin Durant hasn’t shown interest in Warriors trading him]
Durant admits that he has mismanaged his departure from OKC. He avoided the courtesy of contacting Westbrook, whom he had been close to. To not leave with a personal decorum, Durant regrets.
Durant is now vilified every time the Warriors play against the Thunder in Oklahoma. Fans who loved him turned against him because, again, he exercised his freedom, his right to choose another employer.
More than two years later, Durant still tends to personal projects at OKC. He left the place but never stopped supporting him.
If Durant leaves the Warriors, and as expected, he will still have Bay Area connections. And fans will not feel as abandoned as those in Oklahoma.
For Warriors, fans knew from the moment of signing that it was a luxury. The warriors were formidable before his arrival, but his presence was inviting the probability of a dynasty. It was Stephen Curry's team, but Durant was coming as the ultimate collaborator.
And now, because Durant was so keen on wanting the ball in the final seconds of a game in November, there's a broken inside. Durant applauded and shouted for the balloon. Green, in a way, sounded and went nuclear.
[POOLE: Drama has Warriors in an emotional fog]
Green says he's going to have the sometimes caustic vocal presence that he has always been, that if Durant had to leave, well, they made history.
Durant says that he never wants to be asked about his relationship with Green, wishing to deal with it, any more than talking about his relationship with Westbrook.
During did not come to the warriors for the drama. He had a charge of sorrow and condemnation for leaving Thunder, another charge for joining the Warriors.
And now, even as an ultra-successful warrior, he gets it from a teammate?
Durant, even though the warrior cadres lay petals of roses before him in an attempt to cajole, can not be content with that.
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