Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant spent three incredible years together with the Golden State Warriors, leading the team to three consecutive NBA Finals, winning two of them in the process.
“I’ll always remember the three years we had. We’ll probably be back here down the road celebrating those like they did the’ 74-75 team,” Curry said. “It’ll be cool when that happens.” “We won two championships and I think we both got better throughout the process as basketball players and as people,” Curry added.
Stephen Curry reflects on his final meeting w/Kevin Durant the time they played together.
“We’ll always remember the three years we had.” #Warriors pic.twitter.com/lHEq0Iputu
— John Dickinson (@JDJohnDickinson) August 13, 2019
“With the demand every single night to be great and just all that that comes with, in terms of the media attention, the scrutiny, the criticism, the praise even, it’s a lot to handle. And I think me and him especially on that level could connect. Him going to Brooklyn, you’re just trying to make sure he’s happy and going to a place where he feels like he needs to be. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be happy about that for him.”
Durant left the Warriors to join the Brooklyn Nets in the free agency. Right now Curry is embracing “new beginnings” as the oldest player on a Warriors roster that will look far different from the squad we used to watch over the past few years. Veterans Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston also departed, as well as guard Quinn Cook and center DeMarcus Cousins. On the other hand, Golden State added several new players like D’Angelo Russell, Willie Cauley-Stein and Glenn Robinson III.
Draymond Green received a new four-year contract earlier this month worth close to $100 million. Klay Thompson is recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee, so Russell will be Curry’s partner in the backcourt to start the season. The 31-year-old Curry doesn’t mind that he will be the “old guy” entering his 11th NBA season. A two-time NBA MVP, he’s played in five NBA Finals in a row.
He is unconcerned at this stage about expectations regarding how good this Warriors team might be and speculation that this group may not be a championship candidate.
“I know the reality of the situation in terms of we lost a guy like Kevin Durant, who’s an all-time great basketball player,” Curry said. “We lost two veteran high-IQ guys in Shaun and Andre that really were like the cogs in the wheel that kept us going and you could rely on them every single game. So, the look is different but nobody really has a sustained run like we did where every year you’re expected to be the greatest. It’s just a matter of now we have to, I wouldn’t even say prove people wrong, but we have to kind of galvanize the new roster and do the exact same thing.”
