Golden State Warriors fans are undoubtedly still salty that their team blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals last season, and the fact that everybody keeps reminding them of it on social media. But they can all take comfort in knowing that LeBron James and the Cavs' epic three-game winning streak to close out the series actually helped the Warriors land Kevin Durant this off-season.
In an interview yesterday, Durant recalled his thought process while watching Game 7 and how he was 'glad' that the Warriors came up short, thus paving the way for his arrival in the Bay Area.
According to The Mercury News' Anthony Slater, when asked if a Warriors repeat would've made their situation "less interesting” to Durant, he said:
"I was telling one of my friends, Rich (Kleiman, his agent), who’s here, we were watching Game 7. Well, as it started to unfold, it was, ‘No question, no way could you go to this team.’ And I was just like a kid, like, in a candy shop. I’d get wide open 3s, I could just run up and down the court, get wide open layups. I was basically begging him. I was like, yo, this would be nice. So as I was thinking about my decision and who I was gonna play for, this team came to mind. You know, as they lost, it became more and more real every day. You start to think about it even more. To see if I would fit. Then once I sat down with these guys, everything that I wanted to know about them they kinda showed me. But we don’t have to talk about it though because they didn’t get the job done and they came after me and who knows what would’ve happened. But I guess you could say I’m glad that they lost.”
People will still give Durant shit for joining an already stacked Warriors squad, but it would be exponentially worse if they had repeated last year, after setting an NBA record with 73 wins.
So maybe he wouldn't have joined Golden State if that were the case, but the fact of the matter is- Golden State did blow a 3-1 lead and now Durant is playing alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green etc. and we can all pencil in Warriors vs. Cavs in the NBA Finals for the next few years. If I was him, I'd be 'glad' too.
You can read more about Durant's comments regarding the free agency meeting right here.