In the time that has passed since All-Star forward Kevin Durant made the decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, there has been a lingering feeling of resentment that he chose to go that route around much of the league.
During much of that stretch, his former Thunder teammate Enes Kanter continued to give him a hard time on social media for making that choice to leave the Thunder for the Warriors. However, Kanter recently stated on the Aaron Torres Sports Podcast that he has a strong amount of respect for Durant and holds nothing against him for making that move.
Of course not [things won’t be the same]. If an organization loses a player like him, of course things are never going to be the same. I’m always giving him hard time, trolling him whatever, but I respect the guy, he’s maybe top three, top four players in the whole world. Maybe top two. So I’ve got nothing against his game.
But I think what hurt us bad was how he did it. He didn’t tell me. We had a group chat and nobody said anything.
Durant operated in a quick manner while not truly informing his former teammates about which direction he was leaning toward or the decision itself, which became evident by how his and Russell Westbrook's relationship unfolded.
Things have since improved with both sides hashing it out, but it was just the overall manner in which Durant decided to go about things before joining the Warriors that rubbed many the wrong way. Any time a player of his caliber makes the decision to leave their long-time team, there is a seismic shift in the league, and in this case it made the Golden State Warriors the overwhelming favor to win the NBA title with him leading the charge with a pair of NBA titles and NBA Finals MVP awards to his name.
Ultimately, the more time that passes along, fewer feelings of uneasiness and tension there will be around the entire situation.
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