For half of last decade, the Golden State Warriors were the villain of the NBA, headlined by Kevin Durant’s offseason move to the team in 2016.
Another key player to the team, Draymond Green, chimed in when speaking with Michael Lee of the Washington Post about the lack of respect he feels those teams, and Durant, got for their success.
“Everybody criticized it. Everybody criticized Kevin. Everybody criticized us. They didn’t appreciate it,” said Green. “But people usually don’t appreciate greatness until they no longer have it. We appreciated it. And that’s all that matters.”
Those Warriors teams were truly great, too, racking up five consecutive NBA Championship appearances from 2015 to 2019, winning three NBA Championships, and having the best regular season in NBA history in 2015-16, going 73-9.
And don’t look now, but the Warriors – minus Durant – are off to another hot start this season, thanks to Green and Steph Curry. So far this year, the Warriors are an NBA best 13-2 and still are awaiting the return of All-Star Klay Thompson and James Wiseman.
Durant is currently plying his trade on the east coast with the Brooklyn Nets, who are also starting the season strong tied for first in the Eastern Conference at 11-5. The Warriors complete a back-to-back Friday against the Pistons (4-10) while the Nets play the Magic (4-11) the same night.
