Stephen Curry Gets Honest On Whether Kevin Durant Hurt His Feelings When He Left The Warriors

Stephen Curry had his two cents to share about Kevin Durant's departure from the Golden State Warriors in 2019.

The sharpshooter, speaking on Raja Bell's and Logan Murdock's podcast, said there were no hard feelings about his teammate's decision and understood that he had made the best decision for himself.

"I never really had any hurt, to begin with. I knew, as a man, as an athlete, he didn't owe me anything. He didn't owe our franchise anything. It was a situation when he left; it was his own decision."

It surely was a golden time for the Warriors from 2016 to 2019 as Durant was an easy option in Steve Kerr's rotation, and together with Curry, the team won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018. Here's the two consecutive championships that he won with Curry.

And the encore in 2018:

They were just short of a three-peat after Durant went down with an Achilles injury, while Klay Thompson suffered a season-ending injury in the 2019 NBA Finals.

In hindsight, Durant's departure did have some internal events that were believed to have led to his departure from the Bay to Brooklyn. One of them was his 2018 altercation with teammate Draymond Green when the side played the LA Clippers.

Both the forwards were seen exchanging words after Green pushed the ball up on the floor on the final possession of regulation instead of passing it to Durant. It was reported that Green apparently called Durant a "b****" and was subsequently suspended for "conduct detrimental to the team."

In a 2019 interview with Stephen A. Smith, Durant said the fight was one of the factors that played a role in his decision to leave the Warriors.

"I mean, your teammate talks to you that way, you think about it a bit," Durant said. "But you know, as I said, we talked about it. But definitely. For sure. I'm not going to lie about it." (via Sporting News)

It's worth noting that Durant staying with the Warriors, especially with their superstars in their primes would have resulted in the Warriors making their case for another title, while the seasoned veteran would have had one more ring to his name.

Winning a three-peat is as challenging as scaling a peak, and the only teams to have done it were the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe, if Durant did indeed stay with Golden State, the team may have had one more chance at winning a championship.

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Stephen Curry And Kevin Durant Have Had Contrasting Runs In The NBA After The Latter's Departure

While the Warriors and Curry were back as champions in 2022, three years after Durant exited the team, the latter is still in the hunt for his third title and in the process has shifted bases from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns where he is part of a superteam comprising of Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

Losing Durant saw Golden State get D'Angelo Russell who the team used to land Andrew Wiggins, and he went on to become a crucial member in their 2022 title win.

Come the 2023-24 season, both Durant and Curry will play in the West again, and both will be keen to land another ring. While the Warriors star surely has had more success, it remains to be seen if Durant can get the better end of things this time.

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