Don’t think the Golden State Warriors haven’t done their homework on Kevin Durant.
During an episode of The Vertical Podcast with Woj, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that Golden State’s players have been recruiting him to the Bay Area all season. Here’s the transcription, via ProBasketballTalk’s Dan Feldman:
Here’s the thing that’s interesting about Golden State is, their players have been recruiting Kevin Durant all year.
And it goes back to early in the season when the Thunder were struggling. And I don’t know that Golden State saw them as a peer. I don’t know if they saw them as a threat. They weren’t playing great. They were in that mid range in the West, or certainly beyond San Antonio, Golden State.
And Kevin Durant, just like he was hearing from guys in Boston, Washington, different places, he was hearing from guys on the Warriors about, “Hey, you can come help come take the pressure off of Steph Curry. We need you.” This is when they were running off win after win after win. They had him on their mind. He’s been on their mind. And it appealed to him a little. And some of it was, it’s text messages. It’s a lot of that. But the communication with some of the players in Golden State and Kevin, that’s not just starting now.
Woj notes that the Warriors’ tunes changed during the playoffs, particularly when they trailed the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 during the Western Conference Finals. But their pitch is arguably stronger than ever after 1) erasing that deficit to beat the Thunder and 2) losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, blowing a 3-1 lead of their own.
Some will still view Durant as a hanger-on if he joins Golden State. But he can rationalize it as him being the missing piece. The Warriors, as currently concocted, are not invincible and looking to get richer. They need another piece before achieving NBA invincibility.
Durant can be the piece that gets them there. And if we’re being honest, should he actually consider leaving Oklahoma City, there shouldn’t be a contest from a basketball standpoint. The Warriors can offer him a supporting cast and, by extension, an opportunity that no one else can.
