Almost exactly 24 hours earlier, Kevin Durant, blistered by this now infamous argument with Draymond Green, quickly tossed on his black hoody and hat before bolting out of the Staples Center visiting locker room, waving off inquiring reporters.

Green’s snipes, which stretched into a personal, uncomfortable realm, stung Durant deep. He wasn’t ready to discuss them publicly. So he didn’t.

Twenty-four hours later, Durant didn’t appear any more eager to talk. He again dressed quickly postgame Tuesday and batted away private requests, a rarity for the chatty star. But it was clear that both team and player knew a public availability was needed, some type of message from his side before the Wednesday morning sports shows went ballistic on the story.

So he shuffled quickly to the podium after the Warriors’ 110-103 victory over Atlanta at Oracle Arena, entering with a clear plan to keep it short and vague. But what he said, what he didn’t say and how it was delivered revealed plenty. Twenty-four hours didn’t mend the wound. Here’s a partial transcript of Durant’s terse press conference.

Have you and Draymond been able to hash anything out?

“Nah.”

Do you see that happening any time soon?

“I’m sure we will. Got a long season ahead.”

Did he cross the line with anything last night that was said?

“I’m going to keep that in-house. That’s what we do here. Obviously, I know you guys got a job to do, but I’m not trying to give nobody no headlines. What happened happened. We trying to move on, play basketball.”

Following up on that, were you surprised he got suspended?

“I was just focused on the game. I didn’t really care either way. I was just trying to finish this back-to-back off.”

Draymond plays with an edge, a fire, an emotion that you guys appreciate most of the time. Is that fair?

“Yeah.”

Will this make you stronger?

“Who knows. We’ll see.”

How would you describe your friendship with Draymond? Seems like you guys were friends even before you became a Warrior.

“I don’t really think that even matters at this point right now. We just had a game. Anybody going to talk about the game?”

Talk about the game.

“Ask a question about the game.”


Durant’s relationship with Green is fractured, perhaps irreparably, as detailed extensively in this sourced account by our Marcus Thompson II. The road to any possible salvation begins Wednesday, when Green rejoins the Warriors from his brief suspension for their flight to Texas.

What’s said privately before, during and after that flight is important. But so is what Green says publicly. He’s next scheduled to meet with reporters after Thursday’s shootaround in Houston.

What type of message does the famously candid Green deliver? Is he apologetic for his lead role in this sudden saga? Is he defensive about taking the brunt of the public blame? Does he reveal any anger toward management for the heavy-handed suspension that sent a message to the world that they’re siding with Durant?

This is a festering drama that Draymond shouted out for the world to consume. But it’s drama that Durant willingly walked into the locker room this summer at the negotiation table.

If Durant wanted his full max starting salary of more than $35 million this season, under cap rules, he would’ve been forced to lock into at least a two-year deal. But Durant valued flexibility over an extra $5 million (his one-year max was $30 million), so he shoveled it back just for the opportunity to keep his July 2019 free-agency options open.

That’s very much within his right, but his business-savvy Warriors teammates are aware of the reasoning and ramifications. The 1+1 contract, which LeBron James popularized among megastars during his time in Cleveland, is built to hold a franchise hostage and create this everyday tension.

The difference is that tension usually just boils under the surface, understood but either unspoken or, often in the Warriors’ case, approached in a light-hearted way, as was the case during their recent trip to New York. Or even on Tuesday night, when both Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson busted out some postgame gems to ensure they could weather this storm.

“I think it was an old-school pimp that said: ‘You can’t climb a mountain if it’s smooth,'” Iguodala said.

“A win on Thursday and a win on Saturday and Sunday,” Thompson said. “That’s called a win streak. (Then) it will not matter and this will be in the past like a ponytail.”

Maybe. Continued winning will help a tad. But this is about so much more. At the moment this firestorm was set off, the Warriors had just completed a shocking 11-0 run to stun the Clippers and force overtime. If it was purely about on-court success, this thing never would’ve detonated. At least not then.

But, in retrospect, it now appears it was just a ticking time bomb, a stewing Draymond waiting for the right moment to uncork this personal attack, a tirade that nobody seemed remotely close to recovering from by late Tuesday.

So now the defending champs, who entered the week mostly drama-free, skipping toward what many expected was another title, travel to Texas with the eyes of the league upon them, curious if this internal strife will lead to the downfall of this dynasty. Talk to you from Houston on Thursday.

Warriors All-82 podcast with Sam Amick


— Reported from Oakland

(Photo: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)