Kevin Durant has heard the same version of the story for years: he joined the Warriors because he wanted the easy route, because he linked up with friends, because Golden State was some pre-arranged basketball superteam sleepover.
Durant does not see it that way.
Reflecting on his decision to join the Warriors, Durant pushed back on the idea that he went to Golden State because of personal relationships with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson or Draymond Green.
“I didn’t have no relationship with nobody on the Warriors,” Durant said. “We weren’t like friends like people like, ‘you hooked up with your friends.’ I never hung out with Draymond. Steph, we never hung out. Or Klay.”
That is the part of the Warriors move that often gets flattened. Durant was not describing a buddy trip. He was describing a basketball decision. He saw a team that wanted to win, an environment that looked fun, an organization that fit his style, and a city that reminded him of home.
“Oakland is like D.C.,” Durant said.
That line explains more than people might think. Durant did not pick Golden State because it felt glamorous. In fact, he said the opposite. It was not Los Angeles. It was not New York. To him, Oakland carried a different kind of energy: real, grounded, imperfect, familiar.
“It feel like where I’m supposed to be,” Durant said.
The most interesting part is Durant’s view of the franchise itself. By 2016, the Warriors had just won 73 games and were coming off back-to-back Finals appearances. To most of the basketball world, Golden State was the league’s new powerhouse. Durant, though, looked at the longer history. Before Stephen Curry’s era, the Warriors had not been viewed as a perennial NBA winner for decades. That made the move feel different to him.
“This was still like an underdog to me,” Durant said. “I’m looking at the totality of the franchise. I ain’t looking at what happened these last five years.”
Kevin Durant says he felt like he was going to an underdog team when he signed with the Warriors 😭💀
“They never been a winning organization, Nobody liked Golden State… I’m looking at the totality of the franchise, not what happened the last 5 years.”…
— Hater Report (@HaterReport) June 21, 2026
Fans may never fully accept that framing. Joining a 73-win team will always sound like basketball excess, no matter how Durant explains it. But his comments reveal how he processed it internally. He was not thinking about joining his friends. He was not thinking about joining an old-money NBA giant. He saw a great team, yes, but also a franchise whose broader history still felt hungry.
That is why the Warriors chapter remains one of the strangest and most debated moves in NBA history. It produced two championships, two Finals MVPs for Durant, and some of the most beautiful offense the league has ever seen. It also produced endless arguments about legacy, difficulty and whether a player can explain a decision differently than the public remembers it.
