On the eves of Friday night's matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, forward Kevin Durant has taken the high road of agreeing to disagree with a visibly upset Jae Crowder.
During the offseason, the Celtics were one of the teams that pitched Durant into joining their organization. Crowder, along with point guard Isaiah Thomas and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, were part of the pitch.
Durant ultimately chose to sign with Golden State, which has angered more than a fair share of Celtics fans.
“What can they be mad about?” Durant told ESPN's Chris Haynes on Wednesday night, when asked about how the Celtics faithful might receive him Friday. “I never played there. I never said I was going there. But they're going to support their team. It's one of the best fan bases in the league — top-five, easily. So no matter who goes in there, they're going to boo them. But I have no attachment to Boston at all.”
Crowder boasted about the Celtics being the only team to beat both the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers on their home court during the regular season back in the summer, even going over tactics of how they achieved the feats.
“We played (Durant) clips from both games and told him basically the scouting report of how we guarded Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] — our entire game plan, basically. That's what made me mad. We f—ing told him everything we do to beat these guys, and we beat them, and he went and joined them.”
Durant was asked if Crowder's comments irked him.
“Nah, it don't bother me,” he said. “All these guys that you ask the same questions, you know what you're going to get from them. So you're [asking] the same questions. Why am I going to be mad about a guy who has an opinion? I respect all these players. If they don't respect what I did, I can't control that.”
Thomas was asked if there was any lingering bitterness because of Durant's choice to join Golden State.
“No, I've been past that. Maybe for Jae,” Thomas said with a smile. “Jae still might be mad. But I'm past it.”
“I was just surprised. Probably like everybody else. I wasn't mad. I knew we had a chance — we had a pretty good chance at that. I was just surprised he chose the Warriors, but that's that man's decision.”
It's still unknown is Crowder will be able to suit up against the Warriors with a left ankle injury, but even if he doesn't Durant's got no hard feelings for the man.
“I got nothing but love and respect for Jae Crowder and how he approaches the game and how he plays, but we disagree on me coming here,” Durant said. “That's just how it is. It's all good. We're going to compete no matter what. That's one thing — you can say a lot of stuff in the media or wherever you are, but we're going to compete when we're in between the lines. That doesn't change anything.”