Steve Nash is now a player development consultant for the Golden State Warriors, and the 2-time NBA MVP says he understands what former Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant did when he signed with the team in 2016.
During an interview with San Jose Mercury News writer Tim Kawakami, Nash said that he felt Durant’s move was one that was fair, understandable, and even comparable to what Cleveland Cavaliers F LeBron James did in 2010 when he joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach as a member of the Miami Heat.
From the Mercury News:
The reality is that he made a decision within the rules as a basketball player, to the team that he chose, and it was fair.
The other side of it–he’s at a stage of his life where he wanted to challenge himself as a man and put himself in an environment where he felt there was room for a different kind of growth in a way, maybe an uncomfortable different step.
I think from the outside, people look at it and go, he went to the best team available.
But that’s the same thing LeBron did as a free agent the last two times, he went to Miami and Cleveland to join two max players. When he was doing that, there didn’t happen to be team with three all-stars or maybe he would’ve gone to that one.
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And one thing I told him, if he doesn’t make a move like this, there’s nothing stopping a free agent next year from (joining the Warriors in this spot). (If he doesn’t sign with the Warriors), he loses an opportunity where he’s in complete control and has his own choice and he took advantage of it
A lot of this reads like Nash trying to pump up Durant as being extra considerate considering the connection he had in Oklahoma City, a sentiment that has been echoed elsewhere.
Still, it’s interesting that Nash decided to compare Durant’s decision to LeBron’s. There’s probably no karmic difference between orchestrating the creation of a superteam and just straight up joining one, I’ll give him that.
