Kevin Durant Reveals Controversial Reason Behind What Attracted Him to Golden State Warriors

Published 06/01/2021, 7:38 AM EDT

The Golden State Warriors ended their 40-year wait for a title with the 2015 NBA championship. It was a historic feat for the franchise, who continued to make history in the following season. They won a record-breaking 73 games but ended up losing the NBA Finals. So, to improve their chances for the upcoming seasons, they added 2014 MVP Kevin Durant.

Fans across the league looked down on that move as Durant had lost to the Warriors in the previous postseason. And they were already a record-breaking team so adding a second MVP to the team seemed unfair. But surprisingly, Durant doesn’t feel that he joined a super team.

In a recent interview, he explained why he chose the Warriors in the 2016 Free Agency. And it was nothing short of controversial.

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He said, “They’ve never been a winning organization when I was in the league. Nobody liked Golden State. It still felt like an underdog. Because I’m looking at the totality of the franchise… not the last five years. Never been a perennial winner from the 50s. So I’m like, damn, this is an underdog franchise. This feels good, this feels where I’m supposed to be.”

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Did Kevin Durant really join an “underdog” team?

In 2004, the Pistons beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals, which made them one of the biggest underdogs to win a title. The 2011 Mavericks were an underdog who nobody expected would win the championship.

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But a team that won the title just a season ago, and followed that with another record-breaking season, cannot be called an underdog team. They had the reigning MVP in Stephen Curry, and two All-NBA players in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. They were easily the best trio in the league.

Joining such a team is why Durant is often called “weak” and “cupcake” among other names. So it is surprising that Durant would think they were an underdog team. His logic of considering the entire history of the organization doesn’t make much sense. Past failures are ignored when the team in the current day is bossing over the league.

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After spending almost a decade with the Thunder, Durant chose the Warriors. There, he was able to finally win a ring, and he moved on to Brooklyn after three seasons at Golden State.

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Written by:

Aaron Mathew is a sports analyst at EssentiallySports. A graduate in Mass Media from Xavier’s College, Aaron has been a part of EssentiallySports since May 2020 where he covers both NBA and NCAA basketball news, and has also covered NBA 2K. In the past, Aaron has worked at the Sports Desk of Mumbai Mirror.

Kevin Durant Reveals Controversial Reason Behind What Attracted Him to Golden State Warriors

Did Kevin Durant really join an “underdog” team?

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