As he comes into the TD Garden Friday night to face the Celtics for the first time in a Golden State Warriors uniform, Kevin Durant tells ESPN that the C's and their fans shouldn't be mad that he chose Golden State over Boston last summer.
"What can they be mad about?" Durant told ESPN.com Wednesday when asked about the reception he’ll receive Friday night. ”I never played there. I never said I was going there. But they're going to support their team. It's one of the best fan bases in the league -- top-five, easily. So no matter who goes in there, they're going to boo them. But I have no attachment to Boston at all."
The Celtics entourage that tried to lure Durant to Boston last summer in the Hamptons famously included Tom Brady and led to C’s forward Jae Crowder complaining a few weeks later that the Celtics had given away their secrets to beating the Warriors, which they did at Oracle Arena last year, ending Golden State's NBA-record 54-game home winning streak.
Crowder told MassLive.com at the time: ”Afterward, I was talking to Isaiah [Thomas], like maybe after you sit back, [we] shouldn't have told him everything, but who the f--- thought he was going to Golden State, realistically? It was like a slap in the face for us, basically."
Did those Crowder’s comments irk Durant?
”Nah, it don't bother me," Durant told ESPN.com. "All these guys that you ask the same questions, you know what you're going to get from them. So you're [asking] the same questions. Why am I going to be mad about a guy who has an opinion? I respect all these players. If they don't respect what I did, I can't control that."
Thomas told ESPN.com Wednesday that he’s over the Durant decision.
Boston Celtics
”No, I've been past that. Maybe for Jae," Thomas said with a smile. "Jae still might be mad. But I'm past it."