“Golden State didn’t handle it right”: Former Warriors champ critical of Kevin Durant-Draymond Green’s altercation being mishandled

Despite winning the 2018 NBA title with the Golden State Warriors, Quinn Cook believes that the team could have achieved even more if they had handled the public conflict between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green more effectively. This disagreement ultimately resulted in Durant’s departure in 2019.

During his time in the Bay Area from 2016 to 2019, ‘KD’ contributed to Golden State’s consecutive championship wins in 2017 and 2018, earning the NBA Finals MVP award both years.

Despite his successes with the Warriors, Durant and Green often had disagreements which led to frequent conflicts. One notable incident occurred during a game against the LA Clippers in November 2018.

After Green was unable to take a shot, resulting in overtime, Durant confronted his former teammate. Green did not remain quiet and became very angry, stating that the team did not require Durant’s presence and that he was free to depart from Golden State.

Despite the team management’s lack of effort to resolve the animosity between Durant and Green, Cook stated on the Captain Jack Podcast that their altercation had a lasting impact on the team for the remainder of the season.

The ex-Duke player stated:

“I’m gonna say Golden State didn’t handle it right. It was never addressed to us. We was the one dealing with it every single day. We had team meetings and kumbayas, but that sh*t ain’t work. And we all went through that.”

“I think we all men. Let’s just figure it out. Let’s put it all on the table. If we gotta fight, let’s fight and get it out of the way. If we gotta talk, let’s talk. If we don’t address the situation, it’s never gonna get handled. And we just never handled the situation. Never. And it hurt it us.”

Read on to find out what he had to say:

Kevin Durant’s Comments on His 2018 Feud with Draymond Green in Golden State

After their well-known dispute on the sidelines, the Golden State Warriors decided to suspend Draymond Green for one game due to his comments made during the argument with Kevin Durant. Eventually, Durant ended up leaving the team to join the Brooklyn Nets in the following season.

Despite the incident, the two individuals have since reconciled and even discussed it on the Chips show of Green on YouTube in 2021. They both acknowledged that the situation could have been handled more effectively by all those involved.

Durant relayed to Green:

“It wasn’t the argument. It was the way that everybody (reacted). Steve Kerr acted like it didn’t happen. Bob Myers tried to just discipline you (Green) and think that would put the mask over everything.

“I really felt like that was such a big situation for us as a group, the first time we went through something like that. We had to get that sh*t all out. .. Communication is key. Like we didn’t show that.”

Take a look at his statement below, starting at 8:57:

After his departure from Golden State, Durant then spent three and a half years with Brooklyn but faced a full season absence due to injury. He has since joined the Phoenix Suns.

The Warriors, on the other hand, were once again crowned champions in 2022, with the leadership of their experienced trio consisting of Steph Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson.