Kevin Durant was asked by Matt Barnes when he decided he would move on from the Golden State Warriors as a free agent in 2019.
"I knew just about the halfway point through the year," said Durant. "I could feel, you know, the separation between the two. Everybody was just waiting on me to make a decision on free agency -- coaches, to my teammates, to the media -- it's like January and I'm like, 'Yo, I'm just trying to hoop.'
"That's all I want to do is play basketball every day. I came in every single day and kept my head down. I ain't say much, I wasn't too excited about much, so my coaches and teammates thought something was wrong with me. But I was really focused on the end goal, which was to win the third championship in a row.
"My methods not be welcoming to other people, but it's just how I do things -- how I approach the game."
Durant made it clear the Brooklyn Nets were always the favorite.
“Not really. I looked at the Clippers. I took a peek at the Knicks through my due diligence but I really wanted to play for the black and white,” Durant said. “I liked the brand. Brooklyn was an up-and-coming city that needed some new flair. new basketball injection. Because being in Oklahome City, I knew what that was like, having a new franchise around. I was excited about hopefully doing something like that again in Brooklyn with a new team.”
Durant and Kyrie Irving had talked about playing together for quite some time.
“I’ve been having conversations with Kyrie for the last two years,” Durant said. “Not even about playing together, as just brothers. We didn’t plan on playing together. We played against each other in my second year with the Warriors and we had a mutual friend and we just bonded together and we bonded on life in general ... and basketball in general, that just formed over time.
“He didn’t like where his situation was at and me either in Golden State. And just to see how this will work. Let’s try it out. And DJ wanted to play with us and be that center for us that can hold it down and play for something really, play for a team that’s going somewhere and not just bouncing around the league. We knew he’d be a vital piece for us going forward, not just as a star, but being a good teammate. So it just worked out.”
