Still KD.

10 June 2019

Pain, hatred, happiness, & fans bidding farewell with a smile across their face. With 9:53 seconds left in the first half of Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, a 6 foot-10 inch, 240-pound forward found himself defeated. What happened next? One of the MOST disgusting moments in sports history. Scotia Bank Arena broke out into chanting… “KD! KD!”

Durant, dormant as a volcano, had sat down on the only hardwood Canada is fond of, grasping his right leg. Staring endlessly into space, Durant had spent the longest 19.8 seconds, helpless like never before, until he was finally helped up by his Warrior teammates, Quinn Cook and Klay Thompson.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Little did the reigning NBA Finals MVP know he had suffered a torn Achilles. Something so devastating & career-altering to him, but amusing to the fans of Scotia Bank Arena. As Durant gingerly limped off to the locker room, he knew he had given the Warriors his all… no, not over those 3 respectable seasons, but in those 11 points, he scored before having to depart within the first 127 seconds of the second quarter. This would be the last time Durant was seen in the blue and gold.

The Drama

Durant’s interest in heading out East was an open secret following the Warriors’ 2019 NBA Finals loss to Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors. In fact, Warriors insider Marcus Thompson was one of the first people to suggest Durant’s departure from the Bay Area. Once the month of November rolled around during the 2018-19 season, the rumblings of a Durant departure began to get louder after a regular-season loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

After a botched final possession, Draymond Green got into it with Durant repeatedly calling the two-time finals MVP a “bitch” to his face. Green even brought up Durant’s impending free agency during the chaos letting the nearly 7-foot forward know the team didn’t need him. At the time, head coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors moved on business and usual in hopes of accomplishing a three-peat. Durant and Green learned to forgive and forget for the sanity of the Warriors and what they were trying to do.

"Every day it was about my free agency. Every day was about my disposition as a player -- what I looked like on the bench, what I looked like during the games. It opened up a lot of nonsense that could've been avoided. But Draymond and I talked about it." - Kevin Durant

The Media

Durant knew the media was going to ask questions and so did Green. The two of them handled the situation as maturely as possible despite a lot of what happened behind closed doors was already out. However, the media around Durant has always been a common theme have it be good or bad.

Durant believed the media was against him and his decision to join the Golden State Warriors. He always felt like the media was trying to separate him from the team and never understood why this was a common theme. Durant even questioned why the media didn’t do this to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh during their time in Miami.

"Every time I say something, it gets twisted up and thrown out and so many different publications try to take me down with my words that I say, so when I don't say nothing, it's a problem," Durant said.

The Departure

"I just felt like I needed a switch.” - Kevin Durant

On June 30, 2019, Kevin Durant did something a lot of people ultimately expected… leave Golden State. The place he had called home for three seasons was ready to become a closed book. Durant said he made the decision to join the Nets during a text conversation with Kyrie Irving and De’Andre Jordan at 4:15 a.m.

“We were like, ‘are we ready to do it?’ Everybody was like ‘yeah.’” - Kevin Durant

Steven Ryan/Getty Images

Financially the decision was rather intriguing. Per The Athletic's Sam Amick, Golden State privately expressed optimism about re-signing Durant because they had the ability to present him with a five-year supermax offer worth $221 million. The max he could have received from any other team that offseason was $164 millions over four years.

Coming off a torn Achilles as a basketball player is no easy task. This is a study according to an article by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Historically, players with torn Achilles tendons were more likely to never play again than to return to their pre-injury form.

A 2013 Drexel University study found that seven of the 18 NBA players with Achilles tears between 1988 and 2011 did not return at all. Three came back for just one season. Those who did come back missed an average of 56 games the rest of their career; only eight of them played a second season. Those who were able to keep playing saw their minutes and performances fall markedly.

Financially you’d think that Durant is thinking about signing on the dotted line to stay put in Golden State, but instead, the two-time NBA Finals MVP decided to take his talents to Brooklyn. The message was clear. The money didn’t matter to Durant as he had a way out and he took it. On top of that, to turn down that much cash with an uncertain future following his injury, it shows the belief he has in himself to return back as one of the most deadly scorers this league has ever seen.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

As for Warrior fans, the departure of Durant was a blessing in disguise. Had he signed that monster five-year supermax, then it’s very realistic to believe Klay Thompson might not be a Warrior due to the lack of cap space. Shortly after Durant’s infamous departure, Thompson agreed to a five-year extension worth $190 million.

No. 7 in Brooklyn.

Not only did Durant change teams, but he changed numbers ditching his iconic ‘35’ that he donned since his lone season at UT Austin.

Durant wore No. 35 as a tribute to his former AAU coach, Charles Craig, who was shot and killed in 2005 at age 35. The decision to wear No. 7 in Brooklyn was clear as it stands for completion in the Bible (God rested on the 7th day after creating Heaven on Earth), Durant said in an interview with J.R. Moehringer of WSJ. Magazine.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

That brings us to the question… is Brooklyn the final chapter in Durant’s career? Perhaps it is but that book has four more years of pages left yet to be written.

What better way to build on your future, by facing your past? With opening night right around the corner in Brooklyn, Durant shared his thoughts ahead of a revenge matchup against the Warriors.

"I don't need this game ... to feel like I have closure on that situation," Durant said Monday, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. "If winning a basketball game is gonna give me closure for three years then I really didn't have a good time there I guess."

All eyes will be on Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Nets’ Kevin Durant as the two of them look to return to the postseason for the first time since the 2019 NBA Finals, when they were teammates…

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