Kevin Durant Claims He Didn't Leave Oklahoma City Because of Russell Westbrook

Speculation about why Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City has been flying for two weeks. There’s been no resolution because Durant has only given the media crumbs; the Thunder released an upbeat statement and Russell Westbrook hasn’t spoken besides some read-between-the-lines Instagram posts. We’re all left to speculate. On FS1, my read was that Durant left because of Westbrook:

" “KD felt the clock is ticking. I can’t play my entire career w/ a guy who thinks he’s better than me.” https://t.co/wUB6O813zq — Speak For Yourself (@SFY) July 14, 2016 "

But finally, Durant has spoken at length, and his denial is as predictable as you’d expect: I didn’t leave because of Westbrook!

" “No, it wasn’t (a reason I left),” Durant said of Westbrook. “It wasn’t. Obviously coming out now, all these reports are gonna come out. But I can’t really control it. I made a decision based on where I wanted to go. Simple as that. We can talk about all the reasons and the factors, but it’s simple. (Golden State) is where I wanted to play basketball.” “We didn’t talk about that,” Durant said, looking a bit uncomfortable with the question. “We didn’t talk about anything at all. But, nah. I wish him nothing but the best. I can’t really say anything besides that.” "

Yeah, what did you expect him to say? Durant’s too nice of a guy to torch Westbrook here. Let’s be realistic, folks: If Westbrook was going to stay, he would have discussed it with Durant. And if Durant wanted to play for the next few years with Westbrook, wouldn’t the two have discussed this? You’ve spent eight years as teammates, of course you discuss this. It was talked about. We’ll never know exactly what was said.

But you can’t fault Durant for making the decision he did; you can’t fault him for not wanting to continue to play with Westbrook. It’s not personal, it’s business. He spent nine years in Oklahoma City. It was time to move on.