Stephen Curry: Kevin Durant 'Wasn’t Just Some Hired Gun' During Warriors Run

Stephen Curry has a different perspective than a lot of outsiders do about Kevin Durant's time with the Golden State Warriors. 

Speaking to The Ringer's Logan Murdock, Curry explained the Warriors really worked to integrate Durant into their style of play. 

"He wasn’t just some hired gun-type vibe for us," Curry said. "We were really trying to integrate him into how we do things."

Following Durant's departure from the Warriors as a free agent in the summer of 2019, some analysts were criticizing him for only looking out for his best interests. 

"I feel like KD was always just a mercenary in this," former NBA guard Raja Bell said in July 2019 on the Kanell & Bell podcast (h/t CBS Sports). "I felt like he was always going there, he was going to try to stack championships while he could get 'em. I always think that he felt that it was just that window of time, that he would maximize it the best he could, and then he was probably going to be gone."

In April 2020, Draymond Green said on the WRTS: After Party show (h/t ESPN's Nick Friedell) there was some internal friction for the Warriors during Durant's final season with the team because of his decision to only sign a one-year extension that had a player option in the summer of 2018:

"But you can't just leave the elephant in the room, because what happened was the question came to us every day, like every time we spoke to the media, Klay and myself was asked about our contract. It was strictly due to Kevin, because while that was going on, Klay was saying, 'I want to be a Warrior forever. I want to be here. We started this thing. This is where I want to be.' I'm saying, 'Yo, I want to be here for my career. We started this, we built this, I want to finish my career here with the guys I started it with.' And then you kind of had Kevin, [saying] like, 'I don't know what I'm going to do next year, and it don't matter'; but it does matter, because you're not the only person that has to answer that question."

After the Warriors lost to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals—Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles in Game 5 and Klay Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6—Durant elected to sign with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent. 

Despite the unceremonious end to Durant's time in Golden State, the three-year partnership was one of the most successful runs in recent NBA history. The Warriors won back-to-back titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18. 

The 2016-17 team had the third-best net rating in NBA history (11.6), trailing only the Chicago Bulls in 1995-96 (13.4) and 1996-97 (12.0). Their 13.5 net rating in the postseason is second in league history, behind the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers (13.8). 

Durant was named Finals MVP during both championship seasons.