On Wednesday night against the Spurs, Kevin Durant racked up 23 points (on just 13 shots), nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals. He did not commit a single turnover.
But nobody is going to remember how he performed on the court because of what happened during his postgame press conference. The reigning two-time Finals MVP unloaded on the media (specifically Ethan Strauss of The Athletic) for all of the speculation about his pending free agency.
When Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group tweeted out a video snippet of Durant's comments, the Twitter user @BryanFonsecaNY quote tweeted: "I wonder, does @JaredDudley619 have some perspective on this?"
The veteran forward saw the message and offered his thoughts.
What he expect... he hasn't committed to the warriors and everybody has opened up cap space for him.. 🤷🏽♂️ https://t.co/tlaL5E2F4F— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) February 7, 2019
Dudley is correct in saying Durant hasn't committed long-term to Golden State. He signed another "1+1" contract last July to keep his options open this summer, and he hasn't said anything publicly to make people think he wants to play for the Warriors beyond this season.
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The reality is that Durant doesn't owe anybody anything at this point because he has every right to leave for another franchise if that's what he decides to do. He wants to play this season out, try to win a third straight championship, assess where his mind and heart are at and then make a decision on his future. He deserves that plan of action.
But on the flip side, NBA free agency doesn't truly begin on July 1 as teams are constantly plotting and looking to the future months and even years in advance. And as Dudley said, there are teams (not "everybody") who have made the necessary moves to put themselves in position to land Durant.
[RELATED: Klay Thompson believes Warriors are handling Kevin Durant rumors well]
We live in a 24-hour news cycle and social media has changed everything. Various members of the media are doing their jobs by collecting intel and reporting on the information they gather. As a result, the NBA is as popular as its ever been and the league is in an incredible place financially.
Discussing Durant's future and/or what may happen in July is just apart of the deal at this point. And for better or worse, it doesn't seem like the noise is going to stop anytime soon.
Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller
