Kevin Durant was ‘f****d up for awhile’ by fan backlash after leaving Thunder for Warriors

Kevin Durant’s decision to leave the Thunder for a Warriors team that eliminated him in the Western Conference finals is a move that still leaves a sour taste in people’s mouths, especially after his alternate social media accounts — used to bash his former teammates and head coach and fight back against naysayers — were discovered this week.

But as it turns out, Durant joining the Warriors wasn’t some cold, robotic choice to ditch a fan base and organization that supported him for nine years. It was a move that took an emotional toll on the newly crowned Finals MVP.

“To have so many people just say, ‘F—- you,’ that really does it to you,” Durant said as part of a tech interview with San Francisco Magazine. “Because I truly had invested everything I had into the people I played for…. And for those people that I know and love and trust to turn their back on me after I was fully invested in them, it was just…more than I could take. I was upset.”

To drive that point home, his agent and business partner Rich Kleinman told a story about how Durant was emotionally shot during a trip to China. He had already announced his decision to join the Warriors but hadn’t yet “dove into the culture.”

In Durant’s words, “I’m telling you, I was f——d up for awhile!”

Here’s the story as Kleinman tells it:

“We were all messed up on jet lag,” he said, “and I was up at 6 a.m. and he calls me and says, ‘Yo, are you up?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ And he’s like [yelling], ‘Why the fuck did you let me do this to my life?’ And I’m like, ‘Ohh shit, I’m coming over to your room.’”

Kevin Durant is almost seven feet, but can both dribble and shoot like a guard and post up and block shots like a big. When you’re in awe of a person’s physical attributes and abilities on a basketball court, it’s easy to forget they’re made of the same stuff everyone else is — better performing stuff, but same stuff nonetheless.

Durant didn’t just wake up one morning, flip a switch, join the Warriors, and continue on his merry way. He ingratiated himself into the Oklahoma City community and had developed real bonds with people at every level of the Thunder organization. That’s not something you throw away overnight.

You can say what you want about KD opting to leave the team that drafted him for the team that eliminated him. But it seems his decision was one that ate him alive for awhile, and probably still does to this day.

But at least now he has a championship ring and a Finals MVP to ease the pain.