The Los Angeles Lakers‘ acquisition of Luka Doncic sent shockwaves throughout the NBA, but Draymond Green thought, at the time, that the Golden State Warriors were the ones who had pulled off a stunning trade. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Green revealed he had assumed the Warriors had landed Kevin Durant.
“When it first happened, we were at the Warriors charity poker tournament,” Green said. “And I had just saw [Warriors owner] Joe Lacob 10 minutes before this happened… Joe goes, ‘Draymond, I think we’re gonna get Kevin Durant. It’s right there at the finish line, it’s happening. We’re getting Kevin Durant back.’
“I’m like, ‘Oh, man. Here we go, let’s go,'” Green stated. “We talk about it, he’s like, ‘You think it’ll work?’ I’m like, “Absolutely.’ He leaves, he comes running back to me like two minutes later, ‘Draymond, I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Don’t say nothing to nobody. I’m like, ‘Joe, I got you. I won’t say anything to anyone.’
“So, we’re at this tournament and I go sit down,” Green continued. “And about 15 minutes later, Steph [Curry] yells, ‘Draymond, you see the trade?’ I go, ‘It happened?’ Steph goes, ‘Wait, who?’ I said, ‘Oh, never mind, nobody. What happened?’ He’s like, ‘Luka got traded.’ I couldn’t [believe it].”
Green spoke about the video that went viral of the Warriors reacting to the Doncic trade. You can see the four-time All-Star asking Stephen Curry, ‘It happened?’ with a smile on his face, only to realize that the Lakers had landed the Slovenian from the Dallas Mavericks. There was just total shock all around.
To make matters worse for Green, Durant would later turn down a trade to the Warriors. According to Brian Windhorst, a three-team deal involving the Warriors, Phoenix Suns, and Miami Heat was sort of in place.
Durant, however, had no interest in returning to his former team. It was rumored that he didn’t want to play alongside Green after they fell out at the end of his time there. Durant made it clear, though, that he just didn’t want to be traded mid-season.
“People talk crazy about me all the time,” Durant told ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “That’s not the reason why I didn’t come back. I just didn’t want to get traded midway through the season. It was nothing against my time with the Warriors, or I heard it was because I don’t like Draymond. At the end of the day, I just didn’t want to move. And I wanted to see it through with my team in Phoenix. And see what we can do through the rest of the season, so I’m glad I’m still there.”
With Durant turning them down, the Warriors landed Jimmy Butler from the Heat. It wasn’t a bad consolation prize, and Butler would help turn their season around. They were 25-26 when he made his debut and would finish with a 48-34 record.
Green was dreaming about winning a fifth title entering the playoffs, but a hamstring injury to Curry ended the Warriors’ chances. They would lose in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Conference semifinals.
While that was disappointing, the Warriors went further than Doncic and the Lakers, who were eliminated in five games by the Timberwolves in the first round. Durant, meanwhile, wouldn’t even make it to the playoffs with the Suns.
