The night the Luka Doncic deal went down, Draymond Green revealed Kevin Durant almost ended up on the Warriors.
The Warriors star went on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday and explained that a trade that would have sent Durant from Phoenix to Golden State was nearly completed.
“When it (Luka Doncic’s trade to the Los Angeles Lakers) first happened, we were at a Warriors charity poker tournament,” Green said. “I had just saw (Warriors majority owner) Joe Lacob 10 minutes before this happened. Joe gets excited.”
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“Joe goes, ‘Draymond, I think we’re going to get Kevin Durant. It’s right there at the finish line. It’s happening. We’re getting Kevin Durant back’. I’m like, ‘Oh, man. Here we go. Let’s go.’ And we talk about it. He asks if I think it’ll work. I said absolutely. He leaves, he comes running back two minutes later like, ‘Draymond! Draymond!”
“I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Don’t say nothing to nobody.’ I’m like, ‘Joe, I got you. I won’t say anything to anyone.’ “So we’re at this tournament, and I go sit down, and about 15 minutes later, Steph (Curry) yells, ‘Draymond, you see the trade?’
“And I go, ‘It happened?’ Steph goes, ‘Wait, who?’ I said, ‘Oh, never mind, nobody. What happened?’ And he’s like, ‘Luka got traded.’
What else did we know about the Warriors’ pursuit of Kevin Durant?
Arizona Sports‘ John Gambadoro confirmed the Suns took calls from other teams inquiring about Durant, including the Warriors; however, the Warriors eventually acquired Jimmy Butler in a trade after Durant said he did not want to play for Golden State, Gambadoro also reported.
ESPN reported that Durant talked to Curry about being happy in Phoenix and not wanting to be traded at all.
Durant, according to ESPN, told Curry it didn’t “feel right” and it “wasn’t the time” to move cities. That message was then shared with the Warriors’ front office.
Durant later said during an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews that he never asked out of Phoenix or to be traded in the first place.
“You gotta ask the front office about that,” Durant told Andrews. “I mean I never planned on leaving or moving or getting traded. I didn’t ask for a trade from Phoenix.”
The Suns superstar later provided more of an explanation to Green about why the move didn’t make sense for Durant, Golden State or Phoenix.
“I want my career to end on my terms. That’s the only thing I’m worried about. I see a lot of dudes that don’t get the opportunity,” Durant said on The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis. “But as far as the Warriors, I didn’t want to move and a player like me, I cost a lot. Me going to your team, it’s going to be a whole new era to your team when I get to your team.
“My contract and just my production, me just getting up and moving in the middle of the season, it’s going to be a big blow to any team I’m going to. It’s like, I get why y’all want to trade me and why y’all looking at it,” he added. “It just doesn’t make sense for either side right now to go through it. We play the season out and if that’s the decision (the Suns) want to make in the offseason, then you figure it out. It’s just such a big change to make and I’ve been through it before and I’m like, that ain’t really it.”
Durant played for the Warriors from 2016-19 and won two championships with them, where he was also named Finals MVP on both occasions.
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