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NBA Star Kevin Durant has taken up the option of joining Stephen Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors to sign with them in free agency.
Durant was pursued hard by a number of teams including the team he has been with since he was drafted, Oklahoma City. The move is a surprise to many who felt he may take up the option of staying with OKC for one more season and test the waters at the end of next year.
Many fans will be angry and disappointed at this choice as they will feel he has joined the enemy – the team that knocked him out of the playoffs this year. Out of all the options he could have chosen, this is the one no one really wanted.
The Warriors are coming off a stellar 2015-2016 season where they broke the NBA regular season record and were one game away from becoming back-to-back champions.
The Thunder were actually one win away from beating the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals and you have to wonder if that was the ultimate deciding factor.
Durant had held meetings with six teams over the past few days including the San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics, but the ultimate decision came down to one between the Warriors and the Thunder.
Durant broke the news on the players tribune a website he co owns with a number of other athletes to give them a voice in the media. He says in what is an open letter that the previous few weeks have been some of the hardest in his life and that he will miss the city of Oklahoma.
He also apologises for upsetting the fans of OKC but believes this is what he needs to do to further his career.
This decision is probably as shocking if not more so than the decision LeBron James made in 2010 when he joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. This is due to the fact that the Warriors are coming off those great seasons and they really don’t need to add extra firepower to their team.
Will Durant be able to handle the expected criticism that will come his way like LeBron did?
All in all this decision will mean a number of teams will have to make some quick adjustments and some may even take the opportunity to completely reload their line up before the season kicks off in October.
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