Kevin Durant was an emotional wreck after deciding to leave OKC behind and take his talents to Northern California last summer.
KD says he was taken aback by the intensity of the backlash to him joining the Warriors.
Thanks @sanfranmag for the love – cover story out now https://t.co/1YgWF29vWb pic.twitter.com/jYehjf6llE
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) September 19, 2017
Durant’s mind was eventually put at ease by integrating himself into Golden State’s inclusive culture, and the support he received from his peers across the NBA.
Per San Francisco Magazine:
“To have so many people just say, ‘Fuck you,’ that really does it to you,” Durant tells me, still clearly anguished. “Because I truly had invested everything I had into the people I played for…. And for those people that I know and love and trust to turn their back on me after I was fully invested in them, it was just…more than I could take. I was upset.”
“You were fucked up in China,” [agent Rich] Kleiman, looking up from his phone, offers from his plane seat across the aisle from Durant and me.
“That was before I met anybody from the Warriors and dove into the culture. I was basically on my own,” Durant says. “It was like you were in between two teams.”
“I’m telling you, I was fucked up for a while!”
“We were all messed up on jet lag,” Kleiman says, turning to me, “and I was up at 6 a.m. and he calls me and says, ‘Yo, are you up?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ And he’s like [yelling], ‘Why the fuck did you let me do this to my life?’ And I’m like, ‘Ohh shit, I’m coming over to your room.’”
“That hotel was rock bottom,” says Durant.
