Kevin Durant Says He 'Probably Wouldn't Have Played' In Orlando Restart Even If Healthy

[RealGM Wiretap]

Kevin Durant said he probably wouldn't have played for the Brooklyn Nets in the Orlando even if he were healthy.

"I feel, me right now, I probably wouldn't have played because the unknown going into that situation looks crazy right now, seeing so many new cases. It's just so unpredictable.

"It's easy for me to say right now because I'm injured but I probably wouldn't have went down there," said Durant on the Dawg Talk podcast.

Durant added that the three month layoff would have contributed to his decision to not play. 

"Obviously, I would have talked to my teammates and consulted with my guys and actually really went over it for the last month and a half, but me, my gut would have me 'nah,' I wouldn't want to go down there, especially after three months off." 

Via Alex Smith/SNY

[NoStatsGuy]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

[Vegeta10176]

More cases yeah he was one of them he already has had it whats he on about..

[liquid_ja]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

[Hotshot24]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

Can't tell if OP is being serious or not, lol. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) = a defensive player of the year winner/multi-year candidate during their run, who was the central initiator of their elite offense? How?

[Vegeta10176]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

LeBron joined the 8th seed with little depth and were a completely different team.. KD slotted into a 73 9 win team that had already won a championship .. LeBrons move was more comparable to Garnett and Ray Allen joining the Celtics..

[liquid_ja]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

LeBron joined the 8th seed with little depth and were a completely different team.. KD slotted into a 73 9 win team that had already won a championship .. LeBrons move was more comparable to Garnett and Ray Allen joining the Celtics..

It was not only Lebron who joined the team, prime Chris Bosh joined the team at the same time. That's the same as Kawhi and PG joining the clippers. Immediately they become championship contenders. That's two future hall of famers joining the same team.

[liquid_ja]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

Can't tell if OP is being serious or not, lol. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) = a defensive player of the year winner/multi-year candidate during their run, who was the central initiator of their elite offense? How?

I think you think way too highly of Draymond. A player of his statue should have his team still playing now or close to playoff contention. He benefited from the players around him, and to his credit played his role perfectly. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) would do the same damage on the GSW as Draymond.

[BasketballJunky]

KD will go down in history as the petty lil bitch that couldnt overcome Lebron and needed to join one of the top 2 teams in history of basketball. and it hurts him a lot because he knows it lmao

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

Did someone just compare Draymond Green to Battier?
The Miami Heat team to the Warriors?
The same Miami Heat team that didn't make the playoff the year after losing Lebron?
whAT?
Reminder G state had 2 NBA MVP's, 2 Finals MVP's 5 current ALL NBA Players... Ok im done lol

[Hotshot24]

You do realize that Lebron did this too, matter of fact he set the example for others to follow. Is not teaming up with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen the equivalent to a team with Step Curry, Klay Thompson, and KD? Is not Shane Battier an equivalent to Draymond Green, a defensive specialist? And its not like the rest of the roster was scrubs.

From a historical perspective this era will be define by Lebron and the "The Decision".

Can't tell if OP is being serious or not, lol. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) = a defensive player of the year winner/multi-year candidate during their run, who was the central initiator of their elite offense? How?

I think you think way too highly of Draymond. A player of his statue should have his team still playing now or close to playoff contention. He benefited from the players around him, and to his credit played his role perfectly. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) would do the same damage on the GSW as Draymond.

You literally contradicted yourself, lol. You say I think too highly of Draymond, and then say a player of his caliber should have his team playing or in playoff contention, which would make him at least All Star caliber. Shane Battier was far from that. Draymond benefited from those around him like any player playing with superstars/stars does, but they also greatly benefited from him. He initiated much of their offense, something Battier never did. He brought the ball up the floor and would read and react to the situation and make decisions regularly, something Battier never did. He anchored their entire team defense, to the point of literally winning Defensive Player of the Year one year and being a finalist otherwise. I'm not personally a fan of Draymond on the court, but to diminish the value he brought to their championship team by comparing it to what Battier brought to the Heat is silly. Apples to oranges.

[the13thjoker]

Can't tell if OP is being serious or not, lol. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) = a defensive player of the year winner/multi-year candidate during their run, who was the central initiator of their elite offense? How?

I think you think way too highly of Draymond. A player of his statue should have his team still playing now or close to playoff contention. He benefited from the players around him, and to his credit played his role perfectly. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) would do the same damage on the GSW as Draymond.

You literally contradicted yourself, lol. You say I think too highly of Draymond, and then say a player of his caliber should have his team playing or in playoff contention, which would make him at least All Star caliber. Shane Battier was far from that. Draymond benefited from those around him like any player playing with superstars/stars does, but they also greatly benefited from him. He initiated much of their offense, something Battier never did. He brought the ball up the floor and would read and react to the situation and make decisions regularly, something Battier never did. He anchored their entire team defense, to the point of literally winning Defensive Player of the Year one year and being a finalist otherwise. I'm not personally a fan of Draymond on the court, but to diminish the value he brought to their championship team by comparing it to what Battier brought to the Heat is silly. Apples to oranges.

He didn't really. Green hasn't been a candidate for anything outside of the built Warriors squad. If Draymond is what you said he is then he should be able to do what liquid_ja said he should do. See the connection?

[Hotshot24]

I think you think way too highly of Draymond. A player of his statue should have his team still playing now or close to playoff contention. He benefited from the players around him, and to his credit played his role perfectly. Shane Battier (a great 3 and D role player) would do the same damage on the GSW as Draymond.

You literally contradicted yourself, lol. You say I think too highly of Draymond, and then say a player of his caliber should have his team playing or in playoff contention, which would make him at least All Star caliber. Shane Battier was far from that. Draymond benefited from those around him like any player playing with superstars/stars does, but they also greatly benefited from him. He initiated much of their offense, something Battier never did. He brought the ball up the floor and would read and react to the situation and make decisions regularly, something Battier never did. He anchored their entire team defense, to the point of literally winning Defensive Player of the Year one year and being a finalist otherwise. I'm not personally a fan of Draymond on the court, but to diminish the value he brought to their championship team by comparing it to what Battier brought to the Heat is silly. Apples to oranges.

He didn't really. Green hasn't been a candidate for anything outside of the built Warriors squad. If Draymond is what you said he is then he should be able to do what liquid_ja said he should do. See the connection?

Doesn't look like I'm getting anywhere but I'll try once more. Defensive player of the year isn't given out to a player just because his team has a strong defensive system. Saying he was only a good defender because of how the Warriors was built is silly. Additionally, Liquid_ja is suggesting that if Draymond is as good as I say he was then his team should at least be in the playoff hunt. That's silly as well. The Warriors had low expectations this year from the time KD left due to Klay being expected to miss significant time as well. Combine that with Steph's injury and it was essentially a foregone conclusion they wouldn't be competitive with the roster they have. Even if Draymond was currently an all star talent with the roster/injuries they had, they couldn't sniff the playoffs. Minnesota Kevin Love, Devin Booker, current Zach Lavine, the list goes on - guys who are all star talents but couldn't get their teams to the playoffs while putting up crazy numbers.

On top of that, I was talking about Draymond's production throughout their winning years, which are very likely over. He saw dropoff in production from injury and championship fatigue which is normal for most.

[the13thjoker]

You literally contradicted yourself, lol. You say I think too highly of Draymond, and then say a player of his caliber should have his team playing or in playoff contention, which would make him at least All Star caliber. Shane Battier was far from that. Draymond benefited from those around him like any player playing with superstars/stars does, but they also greatly benefited from him. He initiated much of their offense, something Battier never did. He brought the ball up the floor and would read and react to the situation and make decisions regularly, something Battier never did. He anchored their entire team defense, to the point of literally winning Defensive Player of the Year one year and being a finalist otherwise. I'm not personally a fan of Draymond on the court, but to diminish the value he brought to their championship team by comparing it to what Battier brought to the Heat is silly. Apples to oranges.

He didn't really. Green hasn't been a candidate for anything outside of the built Warriors squad. If Draymond is what you said he is then he should be able to do what liquid_ja said he should do. See the connection?

Doesn't look like I'm getting anywhere but I'll try once more. Defensive player of the year isn't given out to a player just because his team has a strong defensive system. Saying he was only a good defender because of how the Warriors was built is silly. Additionally, Liquid_ja is suggesting that if Draymond is as good as I say he was then his team should at least be in the playoff hunt. That's silly as well. The Warriors had low expectations this year from the time KD left due to Klay being expected to miss significant time as well. Combine that with Steph's injury and it was essentially a foregone conclusion they wouldn't be competitive with the roster they have. Even if Draymond was currently an all star talent with the roster/injuries they had, they couldn't sniff the playoffs. Minnesota Kevin Love, Devin Booker, current Zach Lavine, the list goes on - guys who are all star talents but couldn't get their teams to the playoffs while putting up crazy numbers.

On top of that, I was talking about Draymond's production throughout their winning years, which are very likely over. He saw dropoff in production from injury and championship fatigue which is normal for most.

Thanks for the further clarification and fair, Warriors were decimated this season. Do you believe the Warriors with a healthy Curry, Klay, Draymond, Wiggins and top pick are not going back to being winners?

[Hotshot24]

He didn't really. Green hasn't been a candidate for anything outside of the built Warriors squad. If Draymond is what you said he is then he should be able to do what liquid_ja said he should do. See the connection?

Doesn't look like I'm getting anywhere but I'll try once more. Defensive player of the year isn't given out to a player just because his team has a strong defensive system. Saying he was only a good defender because of how the Warriors was built is silly. Additionally, Liquid_ja is suggesting that if Draymond is as good as I say he was then his team should at least be in the playoff hunt. That's silly as well. The Warriors had low expectations this year from the time KD left due to Klay being expected to miss significant time as well. Combine that with Steph's injury and it was essentially a foregone conclusion they wouldn't be competitive with the roster they have. Even if Draymond was currently an all star talent with the roster/injuries they had, they couldn't sniff the playoffs. Minnesota Kevin Love, Devin Booker, current Zach Lavine, the list goes on - guys who are all star talents but couldn't get their teams to the playoffs while putting up crazy numbers.

On top of that, I was talking about Draymond's production throughout their winning years, which are very likely over. He saw dropoff in production from injury and championship fatigue which is normal for most.

Thanks for the further clarification and fair, Warriors were decimated this season. Do you believe the Warriors with a healthy Curry, Klay, Draymond, Wiggins and top pick are not going back to being winners?

I definitely expect they'll be in the playoffs as long as they stay healthy, but if the top teams in the West stay the same/don't have radical changes that make them worse, I don't see them getting past the Lakers or the Clippers if they come up against them. I think they'd battle for that 3-6 spot with Denver and Houston, maybe the Jazz or Trailblazers. Likely semi or conference finals out as their core 3 have been through the heat of the playoffs enough times.