Kevin Durant's Friendship With Draymond Green Bothered Thunder Teammates

Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder just a few days ago and already stories are pouring out about his time there. While most of those tales should be taken with a grain of salt, one popped up makes a ton of sense. Apparently Durant’s teammates in Oklahoma City were irked by his friendship with Draymond Green.

Durant and his new Golden State Warriors teammate were close, and Green was actively recruiting him for months.

On Adrian Wojnarowski’s “The Vertical Pod,” Woj discussed Durant’s exit with Jeff Van Gundy. In an expansive conversation, Wojnarowski dropped this bomb:

"“I know Russell (Westbrook) was bothered by — and some other teammates were too — of, like, there was some knowledge there that Draymond (Green) was in contact with Kevin (Durant) all season long and they’re in a playoff series and I know there was some conversation around the Thunder team of ‘Hey man, this guy kicked Steven Adams in the nuts twice in this series and what are you doing hanging out with this guy? What’s the relationship? We’re trying to beat these guys.’”"

It’s understandable why that would tick fellow Thunder players off. At least for a playoff series, Durant should have put his friendship aside and focused on his team. The fact that he didn’t do that is fine, but it also shows the difference between someone like Durant competing for a championship and someone like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant doing the same.

Does that make Durant a bad guy? Of course not. Does it make him a bad teammate? Eh, I’d still say that’s not enough to condemn him, but you can understand his teammates’ position. Green was the villain in this postseason and he’s the guy Durant chose to pal around with. It’s not a good look if you truly care about your teammates and are fully dedicated to winning a title.