There was one moment in particular that changed Kevin Durant's relationship with then-Warriors teammate Draymond Green.
During the final seconds of the fourth quarter in an eventual 121-116 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2018, Green grabbed the final rebound in regulation and dribbled the entire distance of the court without passing out to Durant or Klay Thompson, the two shooters on the court with him, before turning the ball over in the key ahead of the buzzer.
The discombobulated play and the ensuing argument on the bench have been well documented over the years, and Durant described his emotions in that moment on an episode of the "All The Smoke" podcast in February 2020.
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"The play happened, I was going to grab the rebound, he came and grabbed it. I'm thinking he was going to toss it to me and we were going to run up the court and I'm going to shoot the shot," Durant recalled. "And we all figured that would happen and when it didn't, I was kind of shocked, and then I was just like, 'Oh, Dray, like let me see that. Like 'What are you doing?' Then he turned it over. I'm just so confused at that point because he never ever did nothing like that before."
When Durant got back to the Warriors' bench, he was confused why Green was yelling at him and said the altercation led to him isolating himself after he felt the issue was not dealt with properly.
"And everybody on the bench was confused, too," Durant explained. Then we came back and I just heard him screaming, and I was like hold up, he's usually screaming when he comes back to the bench, but what is he saying? Then he started going off and I'm just like ... maybe it's because I was pissed he didn't give me the rock.
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"Klay [Thompson] was pissed, too. And for him to say that type of s--t to me, it just threw me for a loop. I just started isolating myself after that, because I feel like nobody really talked about it; it was just swept under the rug. And to me, it was like we can move past it, but let's all talk about it because that's a huge moment in this whole dynasty."
Fast forward three-plus years and the incident is water under the bridge, despite Durant claiming it played a role in his exit from Golden State after the 2018-19 NBA season.
After a blockbuster trade sent Durant from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns midway through the 2022-23 season, the future Hall of Famer now will compete against Green and the Warriors for one of the top seeds in the Western Conference next season.
