It seemed clear from before NBA free agency started that Kevin Durant was on his way out with the Golden State Warriors. Durant was ready to enter free agency and there were reports of discourse between the star and his teammates along with reports that he was closely linked to the New York Knicks.
Now, we have learned that things got so bad at one point during the season that he had stopped talking to his teammates.
Yahoo Sports‘ Chris Haynes revealed the news during an appearance on The Herd with FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd.
“There was a point with Kevin Durant when he just stopped talking to his teammates,” Haynes told Cowherd. “He was really on an island and didn’t have somebody that he was close with on that team. The only person he was close with was Quinn Cook, because they’re from the same area. But Quinn is a younger guy that doesn’t have much clout within the franchise.
“After the Draymond stuff went down and then the New York Knicks chatter started going haywire, Durant just stopped talking. He felt like if he said something, it would give a lot of credence to people saying he’s only thinking about free agency. You would see Durant leaving the arena by himself and entering the arena by himself and really not speaking to anyone. You could tell everybody knew the writing was on the wall early on that it was going to be his last season on the Warriors.”
You can listen to the discussion below.
Ultimately, Durant ended up with the Brooklyn Nets where he will team up with former Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving. Of course, Durant is recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon that he suffered during the postseason with Golden State, so he is expected to sit out for his first season in Brooklyn.