Kevin Durant Preferred ‘Underdog’ Warriors Over LA, New York in Infamous 2016 Free Agency

Superstar forward Kevin Durant still faces backlash over his decision to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016.

Kevin Durant Preferred ‘Underdog’ Warriors Over LA, New York in Infamous 2016 Free Agency

Kevin Durant joined the Warriors in 2016 (Image via FirstSportz)

It has been 10 years since Kevin Durant famously joined the Golden State Warriors in free agency, five weeks after the same team eliminated his Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

It was unheard of at the time for a superstar player to join the team that defeated his former team in the postseason. What was more surprising was that he was joining the squad that just set the single-season win-loss record and lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

That loss prompted the Warriors to go all out and sign Durant. They realized that LeBron James had figured out how to defeat them.

To this day, the Slim Reaper gets heat for joining such a strong super team. It disrupted the balance of the NBA, and many believe that is why James has not won enough titles to match Michael Jordan.

Many believe that backlash is why Durant did not want to join the Warriors again a season ago. Now, when asked about his 2016 decision, the Washington DC native said this:

I didn’t have no relationship with nobody on the Warriors. We weren’t like friends… They never been a winning organization when I was in the league. Nobody liked Golden State. It felt like an underdog to me… It ain’t LA, it ain’t New York, it feels like where I’m supposed to be.

Kevin Durant said on Million Dollars Worth of Game

He felt that the Warriors were not a winning team like those in Los Angeles or New York. Even though they had won the 2015 championship, to him, they were a perennial losing side. That is why he felt comfortable joining them.

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Kevin Durant details why he left OKC

It won’t be long before people call out Kevin Durant for this bizarre explanation. After all, he joined a 73-9 team that just lost the NBA Finals.

His joining them instantly made them title favorites, which is why he continues to face backlash. Then, when he appeared on another podcast, Out the Mud, host Tony Allen asked the 37-year-old why he left the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It’s a lot of different factors into why I wanted to leave OKC. The majority of it is, I wanted a new experience. I wanted to play a different way, a different style. I wanted to live in a different city… All I knew was OKC.

Kevin Durant replied

The 16-time All-Star revealed that he was tired of everything in Oklahoma City and the Thunder. He wanted to experience a different lifestyle and a different manner of playing basketball.

That is why, as he goes on to explain, it was ‘hyper efficient.’ That allowed him to thrive despite the obvious presence of three other All-Stars. This could also mean that he was somewhat frustrated by the stagnant form of basketball on the Thunder.

Many have blamed Russell Westbrook and his tendency to hog the ball as the reason for Durant’s exit. Allen’s original question was along the same lines, but the two-time champion’s answer did not directly address it.

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Kevin Durant and his Rockets will need to do better this season

While Kevin Durant’s history with the Golden State Warriors will never leave him, his present with the Houston Rockets needs to get better if the former championships are to stay legit in the minds of fans.

Kevin Durant's Rockets disappointed last season
Kevin Durant’s Rockets disappointed last season (Image via Rockets Wire/X)

Many believe that the only reason the 6’11” forward won those two championships is because of who he played with. Since then, he has not come close to a title, and therefore, many discredit his two rings.

With the Houston Rockets, narratives about the superstar joining super teams will never go away. He still has a chance to complete his legacy before he retires.

But after the way the team struggled without him in the first round, a lot of fine-tuning has to be done if they are to compete for the 2027 championship.

The manner in which a short-handed LeBron James-led Lakers dismantled them, it would bode well if Durant and his teammates start work early this offseason.

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