Kevin Durant has heard it all before — from personal attacks based on his decision to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016 to the barrage of negative comments of how his new team has ruined the NBA.
Signing DeMarcus Cousins only doused that fiery narrative with even more kerosene, as social media was lit ablaze with plenty of shaking heads, marveling at how the Warriors had managed to complete an All-Star starting lineup by signing the injured center.
“It was expected,” said Kevin Durant of the wave of responses ensuing from the news, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “Nobody likes a great thing. Greatness is rare, it’s different, and people don’t like different, so I get it.”
“But I think for DeMarcus I liked his approach, our approach to it, coming in, wanting it just to be about basketball, once you look at it that way, it works out perfectly.”
Cousins is coming off a season-ending Achilles injury, which would only render him useful for the Warriors for half a season, at best — expected to return between late December and January.
Yet the thought of putting an All-Star lineup directly in front of other hopeful rosters is the stuff nightmares are made of, making an already scary starting lineup, flat out phantasmagoric.
Cousins was largely viewed as damaged goods this season, failing to get a single call his way during the first day of free agency, forcing him to take matters into his own hands and reach out to general manager Bob Myers in hopes to band out a deal.
The Warriors will play his recovery by ear and hope to only trot him out there once he's 100 percent healthy, already having the horses to run the first few legs of a grueling 82-game regular season.
