Kevin Durant was almost headed back to The Bay in February and his old teammate Draymond Green thought the trade did in fact go through.
Green was at the Warriors’ annual charity poker tournament and the whispers about KD returning to the Dubs were pretty intense at this point.
Team owner Joe Lacob shared some information with Green, he recalled on Jimmy Kimmel Live recently.
“I saw Joe [Lacob]; and Joe gets excited; that’s my guy…” Draymond said. “Joe goes, ‘Draymond, I think we’re gonna get Kevin Durant; it’s right there at the finish line; it’s happening. We’re getting Kevin Durant back’… We talk about it, he’s like you think it’ll work? I’m like, absolutely… He comes running back to me like two minutes later. Draymond, Draymond, I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Don’t say nothing to nobody.”
Then Green remembered Steph Curry shouting at him from across the room.
“Steph yells, ‘Draymond, you see the trade?’” Green said. “‘I go, ‘It happened!’ Steph goes, ‘Wait, who?’ I said, ‘Oh, never mind. Nobody. What happened?’ He’s like, ‘Luka got traded.’”
Green added, “I couldn’t believe it. I thought Shams was hacked. …Superstars at 25 don’t get traded. Luka’s a megastar… I immediately wondered, ‘I have to be next if Luka’s being traded.’”
KD himself was the one who poured cold water on a Warriors return apparently.
“Durant turned down the opportunity… he didn’t want to move and get traded midseason,” Draymond said.
Instead of Durant, the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler, which was an out-and-out success.
The Warriors made it to the playoffs, but were defeated by the Timberwolves in the second round because Curry suffered a hamstring injury.
Butler had a mixed postseason, but was a huge part of why the Warriors were there in first place.
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