The 2018-19 Golden State Warriors did not hide their frustration over defending the title. The pressure of winning the third consecutive championship weighed on them. The whole world knew that Kevin Durant was going free after the season, and Draymond Green even called him for it. The season ended with a loss in the finals to the Toronto Raptors, and the Warriors, plagued by injuries, entered a period of makeover. They ended with the NBA’s worst record during the 2019-20 season.
And that didn’t bother Warriors coach Steve Kerr much. “I liked last season, when we had the worst league record, more than I liked last season, when we went to the finals,” said Kerr at The Ringer NBA Show. “Last year, we had young people who were trying every day, working hard and we had great energy, great spirit and great camaraderie.”
Warriors Outsiders co-host Drew Shiller tweeted another similar quote from the interview. “That last year was difficult,” said Kerr. “There was a lot going on – some you know and some you don’t. That was very difficult.” This quote caught Durant’s attention. When he saw it on Twitter, he replied, simply “This is hilarious.”
Durant is among the most active NBA players on Twitter, especially when it comes to defending himself from criticism. Kerr never directly named Durant as the cause of the frustration of 2019, but considering his departure and the fact that his fellow warriors Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green remained, Durant is justified in assuming that the implication was that he had a hand in frustration to get out of this season. Durant also criticized Kerr’s movement offense as the one that becomes less effective in the postseason.
During your media availability on Monday, Kerr expressed his discontent in the context by which the quote was read and shared.
“I did a podcast a few nights ago with Logan Murdock and mentioned during the podcast that last season, when we had the worst league history, was more enjoyable from the coach’s point of view than the previous season, when we lost in the finals. The context was, basically, that after the five-year race we were in, that fifth year was just an absolute bear. It was the stress level, two injuries at the end of the season during the finals, DeMarcus also had a serious injury that took away -the playoffs for six weeks. We had all kinds of stress.
The main point of the conversation was the stress of the five-year race compared to coaching a youth team that doesn’t win many games, but is eager to learn. I made the comment, somewhat improvised, that last year was more pleasant than the previous season. That was it, that was my comment. Drew Shiller decided to tweet today that Steve Kerr said he enjoyed the last season more than Kevin Durant last year with the Warriors.
OK, I want to make that very clear. If you really want the story to be accurate, I encourage you to listen to the podcast before we take that story to ramifications and use it as my quote because that is the furthest from the truth. It was a terribly unfair shot. Taking something completely out of context to the point that people read and thought that was my quote. You have all been very fair to me over the years and I rarely receive any complaints. I know that I get criticized whenever we make a game. I will make bad decisions that you can criticize. I will do many things that you can criticize and I deserve.
But taking that comment and putting it in a tweet and sending it to the universe was so irresponsible and harmful that I am angry. And I know what will happen. I know this is going to be taken to the morning shows and people are going to talk about it and are going to use what they think is a quote that, in fact, is something completely made up. I am not happy. I think it is wrong. Once again, I try to be frank. I try to share everything so that our fans know what our team is going through. What am I going through. We like to share our story. It is a big part of promoting our team. So, this is really worrying for me. Maybe it is part of the modern media, but it is totally wrong and I am upset about it. “
Regardless of Durant’s participation in what happened that season, it should be noted that Kerr has won eight NBA championships. Some may see the quest for titles as the only worthy goal in basketball, but once someone has won as many as Kerr has won, the idea that chasing more can become less inherently satisfying is somewhat understandable. Rebuilds come with much less pressure and smaller egos. On a daily basis, it could have been more fun, even if the end result was not so satisfactory.
Ultimately, pleasure is subjective. Durant is chasing another ring in Brooklyn. Kerr is making the most of a season full of injuries and hopes to re-enter the title mix next season. Considering the comments they both made, it seems that it is better that they are pursuing their goals separately.