Reacting to Kevin Durant’s interview last week with the Wall Street Journal, Steph Curry told Rachel Nichols that he has no regrets about Kevin Durant leaving for Brooklyn, other than “I wish we could still with K.”
”At the end of the day, we live in an age where choice at the forefront, and K, you know, made a decision for himself and you can’t argue that,” Curry said. “I wish we could still play with K. He’s an unbelievable talent, unbelievable person. We accomplished a lot together. But -- you know, things have changed a little bit. So you obviously wish him the best, obviously with his recovery first and foremost and things on and off the court. But we’re gonna have to battle down the road. So this should be a fun, new experience on that front, too.”
Curry admitted what had been rumored, that he found out about Durant’s decision to sign with the Nets as he flew to New York to meet with KD. Golden State was seen as the Nets only real competition for Durant when it came down to his June 30 decision.
”There was never an expectation that I was going there to pitch him or to try to sell the Warriors and his future here. Everything was pretty much on the table. And again -- I think Draymond [Green] said it, too, he’s like, ‘He ain’t need to call anybody to say, you know, ‘This is’ -- if he wanted to we woulda said, ‘That’s fine.’ But he didn’t have to call anybody to say, ‘This is what I wanna do for myself.’ And so you respect that.”
As for Durant’s Wall Street Journal comment that recently he was never fully embraced as a member of the Warriors, that “nobody could get a full acceptance of me there,” Curry didn’t budge from his position that KD deserved everyone’s respect and the Warriors would always cherish the two championships in the three years he was in Oakland.
”I mean, that’s tough. There’s so many narratives that go on, especially when you’re at the top of the league. No matter how, you know, the full transition happens to Brooklyn, him separating himself from the Warriors -- that’s gonna happen. I think he knows, you know, what we were about as teammates, what we were about as friends on and off the court. And again, nobody is gonna take away the accomplishments we had. But at the end of the day, whatever he, you know, needed to do to make that decision and however he wants to explain that -- that’s just what’s gonna happen.”
Curry seemed the most defensive when asked about Durant’s comments on Steve Kerr’s offense ... and made a good point that the results can’t be denied.
“Well, I don’t care what plays we ran. We won two championships. And at the end of the day, we had a lotta talent and there was an expectation of us figuring out how to balance all that. And we talked a lot about it throughout the three-year run. It wasn’t always perfect, but I think in terms of, you know, the results and what we were able to do on the floor, that kinda speaks for itself. We all wanna play iso-ball at the end of the day in some way, shape or form. But I’d rather have some championships, too.”
The Nets play the Warriors at Barclays Center on February 5, too early it would seem, for a Durant return from his Achilles surgery. Might he be available for the Nets visit to the new Chase Center on March 12? That’s almost nine months to the day after he underwent surgery.
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