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Draymond Green Says They Wouldn’t Have Beaten The Cleveland Cavaliers Without Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant sent shockwaves across the NBA when he decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2016.
Granted that the Warriors eliminated the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals and were just coming off of a 73-9 season, Durant was met with immediate backlash and drew sharp criticism for taking the easiest road.
Durant eventually got what he wanted, winning two NBA championships and two Finals MVPs with the Warriors before leaving the team in 2019 after their defeat in the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
The two-time Finals MVP was an integral part of their success from 2017 to 2019 NBA season, but after the Warriors came back to the mountain top in this recent NBA playoffs and beating the Boston Celtics to win another championship, critics were quick to downplay Durant’s importance to their success.
While the Warriors obviously didn’t need Durant to beat the Celtics, Warriors outspoken star Draymond Green argued that they needed the now-Brooklyn Nets superstar to beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in two NBA Finals matchups.
“… I think for us, within the organization, we did everything we could to make Kevin comfortable,” Green told Redick and Alter. “We did everything we could to let him know, ‘Just like this is our home, this is your home, too, brother.’ But the outside world didn’t. The outside world [is saying], ‘He’s joining a team that won 73 games, he’s joining the team that already won a championship’ and blah, blah, blah.
“But the reality is, I don’t think that team wins another championship if Kevin doesn’t come … We would not have beat the Cavs coming back around without Kevin.”
“We would not have beat the Cavs coming back around without Kevin”@Money23Green talks about how important @KDTrey5 was to the Warriors’ success. @OldManAndThree pic.twitter.com/jdyjIOE64H
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) June 28, 2022
