There is real trouble brewing with the Warriors.
On Monday night, the Warriors suffered a 121-116 loss to the Clippers in overtime, but that loss has hardly been front and center in the NBA during the two days since.
In the closing seconds of the game in regulation, Kevin Durant was visibly upset with Draymond Green after not getting the ball with a chance to win the game.
Instead, Green dribbled the ball up the court and decided against passing to Durant or a wide-open Klay Thompson in the corner and he would eventually lose the ball as time expired in regulation.
The two were seen arguing with each other in the huddle prior to the start of the overtime period and it escalated to “one of the most volatile episodes” of the Warriors’ current run, according to ESPN.
And as Marcus Thompson of the Athletic recently detailed, the verbal altercation between the two players started when Green shouted several obscenities toward Durant in the huddle.
“According to multiple sources, Green then went on to make it clear he’s been making plays for years. He reminded Durant the Warriors were winning before Durant showed up so he wouldn’t stand for Durant talking to him as if he were a scrub. Green accused Durant of making the whole season about him even though he was going to leave after this season. Green let out his frustrations about how Durant has handled free agency — keeping his options open and keeping the story alive, consuming the Warriors and their season with talk of what Durant will do next.”
Green was suspended without pay for the Warriors’ game on Tuesday night against the Hawks. After the game, Durant said directly that he and Green have not been able to resolve their issues.
For Green, his frustration boiled over on Durant during the game as Green and several other players on the Warriors believe Durant will be leaving in free agency next summer and the group is “low-key” unhappy with how Durant has handled his upcoming free agency.
Some of the players believe that, even if Durant decides to leave the team next summer, he should still publicly declare his love for the team and his teammates and just leave it at that, but Durant has not done that so far this season and it seems unlikely he will do so now.
“With what was said, there is already no way Durant is coming back,” one player told The Athletic. “The only hope is that they can say this summer, ‘See, KD. We’ve got your back. We protected you from Draymond.'”
Now, there is a real question as to how the team can move forward as the locker room has become split on how Green handled the situation and how Durant has handled his upcoming free agency.
Durant signed with the Warriors in the summer of 2016 and has since gone on to win two championships and two Finals MVP awards after spending the previous nine years with the SuperSonics/Thunder.
Some believed prior to this season that it could have been the last season for Durant with the Warriors and with this recent spat with Green, that notion seems to be gaining significant traction.