In the “Summer of KD,” every team in the league had their eyes set on Kevin Durant. The Boston Celtics and their fan base courted Kevin Durant with their laurels in hopes of landing the former NBA MVP. From banners to Brady, the Celtics went all out.
Ultimately, Durant decided to go with the already favorited Warriors, giving the team the ‘Super Villain’ label and making them the most hated team in the NBA.
The Celtics were obviously disappointed they didn’t acquire the superstar they’ve needed to take their team to the next level, but their small forward was even more upset. Jae Crowder was quick to criticize Durant’s decision and did not hold anything back.
As the Warriors prepare to face the Celtics, the issue came up again. According to Anthony Slater of the Bay Area News Group, Durant is not worried about other players’ comments about his decision to join the Warriors:
“Nah, it don’t bother me,” he said. “All these guys that you ask the same questions, you know what you’re going to get from them. Why am I going to be mad about a guy who has an opinion? I respect all these players. If they don’t respect what I did, I can’t control that.”
“I got nothing but love and respect for Jae Crowder and how he approaches the game and how he plays,” Durant continued. “But we disagree on me coming here. That’s just how it is. It’s all good. We’re going to compete no matter what. That’s one thing, you can say a lot of stuff in the media or wherever you are, but we’re going to compete when we’re in between the lines. That doesn’t change anything.”
While Durant is very clear that he is not letting other players’ opinion bother him, he does have respect for Crowder, especially how he approaches the game. However, Durant is more focused on winning games and building the team’s chemistry.
Durant has received plenty of criticism since he signed with Golden State and if he wasted his time and actually cared about everybody’s opinion, he would be miserable. At this point the only thing that matters is winning a championship. If Durant and the Warriors win the title, that will silence all the critics.