Kevin Durant’s free agent decision sent shockwaves across the NBA world on our nation’s Independence Day. Moving from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors also sent the sports world into a Twitter frenzy of mostly shock and hate.
With one two-year deal, Durant went from one of the most loved NBA players to perhaps its newest and most-hated villain.
It has been a double-edged sword for Durant, who sat down this week and said he was still getting used to people hating him for the move.
“Yeah, it’s difficult. I’m not used to this much attention, but I’m getting used to it,” Durant said. “Obviously, people don’t like me right now, but it is what it is. I can’t please them all. I’ve got to still go out there and handle my business.
“They’re not going to get up at 9 o’clock in the morning and work on their game for me. I’ve got to do all of that on my own. I can’t worry about people on the outside. I’ve got to go to sleep at night, I’ve got to get up and I’ve got to perform. I’ve got to do all that stuff. It is what it is. Once we start playing the games, I’ll feel a little bit more better. Right now, it’s definitely a change. There’s a different vibe going around, but I’ll get used to it.”
One thing he does know is that his relationship with former sidekick in OKC, Russell Westbrook, will never be the same.
“I just told him. I let him know how I felt,” Durant said of his conversation with Westbrook. “Obviously, our relationship won’t ever be the same again. But it’s something I wanted to do, and I expressed that to him. Hopefully he respected it.”
As for the other edge of the sword? Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, sees the Golden State Warriors going from beloved to the ultimate villain in the league as a good thing for overall business.
It certainly is a departure from the remarks made by NBA commissioner Adam Silver earlier this week, as he made it known he was concerned about so-called “superteams.”
Cuban sees it differently, especially given his experience in the league with the first so-called superteam — the Miami Heat.
“They become the villain,” Cuban told ESPN on Wednesday, a day after Silver indicated that changes in the collective bargaining agreement are needed to prevent similar situations from developing in the future. “Just like when LeBron James went to Miami, I loved that there was a villain. They become the villain. I’m fine with that. Everybody’s going to root for them to lose.”
See, sports take emotional investment to work. If one doesn’t care about a team or player, they’re not going to shed out crazy dough to attend or watch an event.
Loving one team helps, but having that love combined with an emotional hatred for another only adds to the fire and to the wallets opening up too.
You can’t tell me a trip to the American Airlines Arena in Dallas won’t be that much more exciting or valuable now that Durant is added to the Warriors. Interest in the game is likely to increase, and it should be a model the NBA learned plenty from during the three-headed monster that was the Miami Heat of Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.
While the Warriors of today have a long-way to go in terms of matching the level of success those Heat did on the court, they have already equalled the emotional reaction the Heat got when they added James and Bosh to the fold.
So get used to Durant as the villain, and get used to caring about the NBA more than you may have ever before. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
[ESPN]
