Kendrick Perkins: Kevin Durant has 'his own team' with Nets, Warriors took him for granted
Like an onion made of drama, there are so many layers to Kevin Durant deciding to turn down more money with the Golden State Warriors and take a lesser payday to play with Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan on the Brooklyn Nets. Marc J. Spears of ESPN and The Undefeated spoke to Durant’s former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Kendrick Perkins on Sunday and tried to peel back and expose some of those layers. And to no one’s surprise, there’s a whole lot of drama.
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It wasn’t a secret that Durant didn’t seem happy with the Warriors, but according to Perkins he was playing with “one foot out the door” because he didn’t feel that fans, Warriors management, and even his teammates loved and appreciated him as much as he felt they should. Spears said that Durant felt like a “distant second fiddle” to Steph Curry, and a source close to Durant said that Curry getting MVP chants during every free throw bothered him. Durant would hear those chants, but only during the playoffs, and he felt he deserved more.
No one can forget the incident between Durant and Draymond Green back in November, which featured harsh words and a suspension for Green. And then there was the incident with Warriors GM Bob Myers, during which he essentially said that Durant deserved a lesser contract than Curry because Curry was a homegrown player. When you put it all together, it’s not hard to see why Perkins told Spears that the Warriors were “taking [Durant] for granted.”
Another source close to Durant gave this eye-popping quote to Spears about everything that went down between Durant and the Warriors this season.
“All that showed a lack of respect for one of the greatest players to put that uniform on and the fact that he took all that abuse and still put his career on the line to help them win.”
That quote is ultra-dramatic, but it’s likely that everything that went down with the Warriors over the past year was a major factor in his decision about where to sign. He didn’t choose Golden State, he chose the Nets, which also meant choosing to play with Irving, his close friend. Perkins hasn’t just played with Durant, he’s played with Irving as well. And while he says that Durant “finally got his own team” with the Nets, he sees Irving’s role as subordinate.
“I have no doubt they will co-exist. ... Kyrie needs to be able to play freely and just be himself and let KD be the leader and the playmaker. I think Kyrie will fall in line.”
It remains to be seen whether Irving will fall in line, and whether he, Durant, and Jordan will be able to coexist. If not, this arrangement could turn into a nightmare fairly quickly.
Of course, this is just Perkins’ take on things. Durant himself issued a warning to people who would presume to know what he’s thinking via an Instagram story.
KD speaks on free agency 👁🗨 pic.twitter.com/7VY7E9fhDH
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 1, 2019
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