It has been a little more than a week since Kevin Durant announced he was going to the Golden State Warriors. Of course, the internet was quick to react with memes, disappointed fans, and videos of burning jerseys. However, though many NBA players reacted to the news, there was one specific reaction that was noticeably invisible: Russell Westbrook‘s.

Westbrook and Durant were teammates for eight years. As Randy Foye told SB Nation, “‘They’ve been together, you’ve got to think about, from draft day. KD was already in the league and he still went to see Russ be drafted,’ Foye told SB Nation. ‘You’ve got to think about (how) they’ve been here every step of the way, from the organization of the team not being so well, to building it all the way up to them being in the Finals.’” Together these two formed a dynamic duo, dominated the floor and led the Thunder team to multiple playoffs.

But now, Durant has taken his talent to the Bay Area, left Westbrook behind and possibly damaged their friendship. In a recent interview with Sina, a Chinese online media company, Durant shared how he broke the news to Westbrook, stating that “‘I just told him, I let him know how I felt.’ Durant said in an interview with Sina. ‘And you obviously, our relationship probably won’t ever be the same again, but it’s something I wanted to do and I expressed that to him. Hopefully, he respected it.’‘”

An NBA’s player’s home is never completely guaranteed while they remain active. Players constantly move from the East to the West, West to the East or city to city. It’s part of the business. Hopefully Westbrook will keep that in mind and remain friends with his former teammate. LeBron and Wade are still friends, why can’t these two continue their friendship? Who knows, maybe their friendship “won’t ever be the same again” because the distance will make it better.

 

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Stephen A. Smith, Lakers, Nuggets, LeBron James, LeBron Lakers

Jackson Stone ·

Dejounte Murray with question marks around him

Shervon Fakhimi ·

Lakers' LeBron James, Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell with Nuggets' Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic

Michael Corvo ·

Note: The quote from Sina from originally published in Chinese and this translation was acquired from CBS Sports.

[button width=”full” button size=”bigger” color=”custom” align=”center” textcolor=”#ffffff” texthcolor=”#ffffff” bgcolor=”#8b0000″ link=”https://clutchpoints.com/russell-westbrook-prepared-kevin-durant-play-steph-curry/”]NEXT: How Russell Westbrook prepared Kevin Durant to play with Steph Curry[/button]