As the Golden State Warriors met the New York Knicks this Thursday night, the question about Durant’s reluctance to meet the Knicks who was eager to recruit him during his free agency re-occurred.
In an interview with New York Daily News, Durant said that he was against the meeting with the New York Knicks. He answered the reason with one simple sentence, because he didn’t want to.
Despite his close relationship with the New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, Durant decided to skip the meeting with the Knicks. It is because he didn’t want to lead anybody and he wanted to make the best decision for himself.
"I didn't want to lead anybody on," Durant said. "I got a lot of friends in the league. I got calls throughout the summer. But I made the best decision I wanted to make, the best decision for me.”
During his free agency in the off-season, he met with the contending teams in Western Conference, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, LA Clippers and his old team the Thunder. He also talked to two Eastern Conference team, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.
Nevertheless, the question of his reluctance to meet the Knicks was funny according to CBS Sports. It is because this kind of question was not asked when Toronto Raptors visited Oracle Arena. While the Raptors is the team which Durant rooted for as a child.
Durant might have reluctant to join the Knicks because of the very bad records the New York Knicks had in the 2015-16 season with 32-50. As a highly competitive player, he would want to play with either Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green or Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in LA. It has nothing to do with the friendship between him and Anthony.
In the game this Thursday night Dec. 15, the Warriors defeated the Knicks 103-90 at the Oracle Arena. The game was preceded by a tribute speech by Golden State Warrriors head coch Steve Kerr to NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager who passed away a few hours earlier.
Watch the report from The Fumble regarding the effort Anthony has put to recruit Durant to New York Knicks below: