Steve Kerr is far better suited than most NBA coaches to guide a team in pursuit of multiple championships. He spent five seasons of his 15-year career with the Chicago Bulls, winning three consecutive championships in the late 1990s. He won two more rings with the San Antonio Spurs, too, even becoming one of the only players in modern league history to win four straight titles when the Spurs took down the New York Knicks in 1999.

Needless to say, Kerr was uniquely and fully aware of the pitfalls likely to afflict the Golden State Warriors both in 2018-19 and the previous season. Perhaps sensing that looming discontent, a Warriors official asked Kevin Durant to “liven up his disposition” on multiple occasions throughout last season, a request the two-time Finals MVP says caused him to dive even “deeper” into his craft.

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“I just dove deeper into the game,” Durant said, per Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes. “I just worked out as hard as I could and focused on being the best player I could be every day. In particular in practice, I really had fun diving into that. I never felt that deep about the game and about every part. Even the small parts from a drill we did in a defensive segment to hitting the game-winner and everything in between. I just really dove into that as I was hearing all of this noise around me.”

It's unclear if Kerr is the anonymous official in question, but he's hardly been shy about Durant's state of mind during his time with the Warriors. Kerr has publicly mentioned on multiple occasions a conversation he had with Durant midway through the 2017-18 season about the Warriors “losing him,” and has also alluded to Durant's largely unknowable personality in general.

Durant, of course, left the Warriors in free agency, signing with the Brooklyn Nets.