Draymond Green Criticizes Celtics Fans for Booing Kevin Durant
After hearing heavy boos rain down on Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant from fans at the TD Garden on Friday night, Draymond Green thinks that could impact the Boston Celtics' ability to lure free agents in the future.
Following the Warriors' 104-88 victory, Green expressed his frustration with Celtics fans for their treatment of Durant, per ESPN.com:
"Fans must be desperate. Like, who boos a guy for taking an interview. That's crazy. Y'all booing somebody for interviewing with y'all? Man, they may scare free agents away. You don't want to take an interview and then make enemies for taking an interview. I don't know. They may want to be careful with that.
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The interview Green referenced was Durant's meeting with the Celtics to hear their free-agent pitch over the summer before he decided to join the Warriors.
Sports fans are notorious for holding a grudge, especially when they feel slighted by a player, but Green did his best to offer a defense of his teammate:
"If you're that mad at what somebody else did with [their] life, you need to evaluate your own life. [Durant] made a personal decision for his life, for his happiness, for his career. And if people [are] that mad, they need to re-evaluate where their head is at in life.
I don't know if I can stay that mad at somebody for deciding to do something with their life. That's a slippery slope.
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Green is correct about Durant's having the right to do what he wanted as a free agent. Fans in Boston, Oklahoma City and everywhere else Durant had an interview over the summer may not like what he did, but it was his decision.
The idea, however, that fans booing a player will impact the team's ability to sign free agents in the future is over the top.
In this era of NBA free agency, where money is essentially no object, most of the marquee players are looking for their best opportunity to win. It's why Durant wound up in Golden State and LeBron James went to Miami and back to Cleveland.
If the Celtics boasted a roster of talent like the Warriors have, maybe their pitch to Durant would have gone the way they hoped.
Instead, the Warriors added the superstar to a nucleus that includes Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and the Celtics brought in Al Horford.
