After one season, it's official: Kelly Oubre is no longer a member of the Golden State Warriors. He had a bizarre year with the Dubs and never completely fit in with the squad.
After averaging a career-high 18.7 points per game with the Phoenix Suns, things didn't go the same with the Warriors a year later. It wasn't necessarily his points average that was disappointing but his efficiency. He shot 43% from the field and 31% from downtown. So let's get into some of the things that went wrong with Oubre that led to a departure after one season in the Bay Area.
At the beginning of the season, Oubre got off to an ugly start. He missed his first 17 three-point attempts before making his first three-ball, which had to take a toll on his confidence. His teammates tried to keep him encouraged, and that could get kind of annoying as well. When you've been performing at a high level your entire life, then turn into the guy who everyone encourages out of pity probably hurts more than you imagine. The beginning of the season with the Warriors could have given Oubre his first thoughts of leaving.
https://youtu.be/m1htuZoY_OQ
As the year continued with the Warriors, things got better but never really got to a good point. The team struggled to add wins to the record, and talk of next season began. The most discussed topic has been the return of Klay Thompson, and this is when things got really awkward for Oubre.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was asked in an interview how the roster would look next year and if Oubre would return, and coach Kerr explained that he would love for Oubre to return next season, but he would come off the bench when Thompson returned. It had to hurt, especially since Oubre was playing the best he's played the entire year at this point. At this moment, Oubre had to be thinking about leaving.
Not long after Kerr's comments about Thompson returning to the starting lineup, Oubre had a hilarious exchange with a reporter in his postgame media interview. In that interview, Oubre was asked how he felt about coming off the bench next season and would he be willing to take less money to return to the Warriors. A frustrated Oubre dismissed the reporter's question then left the interview shortly after.
These are just some things that went wrong during Oubre's time with the Warriors, but I'm sure it was a lot more that led to his choice to leave. These were just a few moments that stood out.
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