Steve Kerr Is ‘Angry’ His Comments About Kevin Durant’s Last Season Were Taken Out Of Context

Super teams in the modern era were never meant to last. The NBA landscape can shift dramatically over the course of a single season, and players, coaches, and front offices have to be agile and willing to make bold moves as they juggle the dual and sometimes conflicting goals of trying to win now and set themselves up for the future.

Players have more agency than ever before, and they’ve grown increasingly savvy about how to manage their legacy. It tests the bounds of loyalty to their teammates, their organizations, and their fan base, and the residual effects of losing a superstar to free agency can leave a bad taste for years.

That’s apparently still the case for the Golden State Warriors. This week, Steve Kerr revealed something we’ve all been well aware of when he said that he enjoyed last year’s 15-50 season more than he did the final season with Kevin Durant before he left for Brooklyn. It’s no secret that their final year together was a tumultuous ride, but Kerr is now taking umbrage with the way he believes his words were painted in a negative light.

Kerr says at various points that it was a “terribly unfair shot” and “irresponsible and damaging.” In fairness to Kerr, he never pinpointed Durant directly in his original comments about the difficulties of that final season together. But it’s hard to ignore the implications, as Durant’s uncertain future with the team was a central issue — Kerr specifically used the word “agendas” in his remarks, which is the sort of thing that will always be perceived in one very specific way.

Still, Kerr clearly wasn’t happy about the way his comments were handled, and no amount of backtracking can undo the damage, although enough time has passed that both parties should be able to put it behind them and focus on their respective futures.