Since Kevin Durant made the major decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors in free agency last summer, he has continued to receive plenty of criticism.

During an appearance on Fox Sports 1's “Undisputed,” his former Warriors teammate Matt Barnes supported Durant's decision to join the Warriors.

“Always playing against him was like playing a monster. I mean he is seven foot and can play like a two-guard. It's special. Just the way he embraced everything. He embraced the negativity. He embraced the love. He embraced the doubters and he just went out there and played his game.

He and I talked a lot and we would hang out after the game and talk about the game. He just embraced the moment. I was happy for him because he took so much grief leaving to the take less money to the best team but obviously to win. Everyone is talking about how it's so money driven but he took less to win. It's a business when the NBA trades you, cut you or waives you but you're a villain when you take your future and happiness in your own hands.”

When Durant made the decision to go to the Warriors, he knew that he was going to catch plenty of slack for the move. He was leaving the team that Thunder had down 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals a few months earlier. It was also the team that had been to two straight NBA Finals at the moment.

Despite that, Durant embraced the situation and took the challenge full on and became the leading scorer for a dominant juggernaut team. He rode that to tremendous success in his first season that saw him earn his first NBA title and NBA Finals MVP award. Durant arguably the best basketball of his career in the Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was a move that paid him immediate dividends to winning his NBA title and fully embraced everything that came by assimilating himself to the Warriors' culture and playing style that provided a huge to helping them essentially cruise to a championship in the playoffs.

All the criticism only gave him more fuel to his personal fire and helped him reach the ultimate goal.