Kevin Durant's turbulent last season with the Golden State Warriors brought plenty of fodder with local scribes. Among them, Ethan Strauss of The Athletic recalls how he was once confronted by Durant, who accused him and others of just wanting “to kiss [Stephen Curry’s] ass at his expense.”
Strauss revealed how that interaction went down in a special contribution to HoopsHype. This excerpt from Strauss' latest book, “The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty,” tells how Durant, upset with an article Strauss had written for The Athletic, chose to approach the situation:
“I tried to make a few points, saying I didn’t begrudge him for having leverage with his contract, and insisted that I had good reason to write what I wrote. KD wasn’t impressed and accused me of trying to “rile up Steph’s fans.” He expressed that this was a constant theme in the Bay. All of us local guys just wanted to kiss Steph’s ass at his expense.
“This was KD’s consistent lament. He would frequently squabble in direct-message conversations with the Warriors fans of Twitter, frequently accusing them of favoring Steph at his expense. In one such exchange that foreshadowed things to come, he was asked by the WarriorsWorld account whether two-time MVP Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving was the better player. “I gotta really sit down and analyze it,” Durant demurred.”
Even before the release of this book, there were plenty of rumors about Durant resenting the preferential treatment Curry had in The Bay. Curry was not only drafted by the franchise but also saw the progression of this team from a league laughingstock to a perennial championship contender.
While Durant played a huge part in winning the next two titles in 2017 and 2018, he never received that equal support from the fan base, and that ire was amplified when he read criticism from local media.
It seems Strauss got his share of fuss from Durant's inner thoughts in a moment of boiling frustration, further confirming a major factor of his choice to leave the Warriors for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency.
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