Recruiting Roundup: Top Prospects React to Kevin Durant and Warriors' Superteam

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While the second annual Stephen Curry Select Camp was underway in the Bay Area last week, Kevin Durant was trying to decide where his basketball future would lie.

Going through drills with the elite high school and college basketball players attending his camp, Curry was locked in, leading players through his famous ball-handling drills and teaching them the nuances of reading high ball screens.

But with one day left in his camp, the back-to-back MVP left unexpectedly to fly across the country and attend the Golden State Warriors' meeting with Durant. That fateful meeting helped solidify the decision that would shock the basketball world, as players at Curry's camp realized after Durant's decision why he had to jet early. 

Beck Diefenbach/Associated Press

"He left camp early just to go talk to KD, and I guess he said some magical stuff. I don't know. He got him," 5-star point guard Trevon Duval said.

The mixed reactions to Durant's decision to join the Western Conference rival that eliminated him in the playoffs soon followed, as social media was buzzing with opinions. Much like the rest of America, elite high school players are also divided on how they view the league-altering choice.

Some players expressed excitement that two high-scoring MVPs would be playing together, while others felt Durant betrayed a potentially special situation with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Duval was excited to see the collection of talent that the Warriors had to offer coming off a record-setting 73-win season, but his excitement was also rooted in his personal desire to dominate people online in NBA 2K17.

"Honestly, my reaction is, 'I wonder how 2K is going to be?'" Duval said with a smile. "That's really my main goal. Because I play with the Warriors on 2K, so I don't see myself losing."

Referring to the new-look Warriors as "The Splash Family," Duval has some experience playing on superteams of his own at the high school level. This past season, Duval teamed up with other 5-star prospects, wing Terrance Ferguson and forward Billy Preston, at Advanced Preparatory International High School, which was one of the top high school basketball teams in the nation.

Having to share the ball with other talented players last season, Duval understands how difficult life will be for the Warriors as they begin the 2016-17 season.

"It's really hard. Hard getting all the egos and all the talent and all that stuff together," Duval said. "Everybody getting shots and being happy. But once it clicks and it's rolling, it's really hard to stop."

While Duval was among the people happy with Durant's move, other players weren't so welcoming. Some players expressed disappointment that Durant didn't want to go back at the Warriors after the Thunder's surprising 3-1 collapse in the Western Conference Finals.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

"Me, personally, if I was in that situation, I wouldn't move because I'd want to beat the team that beat me. So I wouldn't move," 4-star guard Lindell Wigginton said.

"I mean, I feel like it was a weak decision because he's going to a team that put him out," 4-star guard Nick Weatherspoon said. "How do you not have that competitiveness to not go and try and go back and beat [the Warriors] the next year? He should have signed that two-year contract [with Oklahoma City] and opted out [after] this year. He and Russell [Westbrook] could have left together."

Whether players are cool with Durant's choice, the overwhelming consensus among players was that the Warriors are huge favorites to win the NBA title in 2017. Nobody seems to believe LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers—or anyone else in the league—will be on par with what Golden State has put together.

"I thought he was going to stay, but now that he's going to the Warriors, that's crazy. They're definitely going to win," Wigginton said. "I really think they're definitely going to win. There's no chance that anybody is going to beat them."

Is Another Recruiting Powerhouse Emerging in Kentucky?

In one of the most shocking commitments in recent memory, 5-star center Mitchell Robinson pledged to new head coach Rick Stansbury and Western Kentucky in late June.

The news of Robinson's commitment sent shock waves through the recruiting world, and now other prospects are intrigued by joining the Hilltoppers.

adidas

When he was the head coach at Mississippi State, Stansbury was known for landing some big names, and now he's trying to do the same thing. Only this time, Stansbury has to sell elite recruits on playing in Conference USA.

"I like them because they're trying to build a program," 5-star forward Zion Williamson said of Western Kentucky. "A school like that, I don't push them to the side because I wasn't ranked one time, and now that I'm ranked, people are starting to show me publicity. But I look at them like they're similar to me, so I know what type of position they're in."

Robinson, the 5-star center who got the momentum rolling with his pledge, cited a strong relationship with Stansbury as one of the reasons for his choice. 

"We've built a pretty good relationship from last year to this year," Robinson said. "He's just a cool dude, and I feel like he's really going to help me out getting to where I want to go."

Since deciding on his future school, Robinson said that others have told him they're intrigued by what Western Kentucky has to offer.

"There's a lot of kids that want to come play with me, so we might get some visits," Robinson said.

Coaches Going the Extra Mile to Recruit at the World Championships

USA Basketball came home with a gold medal from the FIBA Under-17 World Championships, but the event also provided a special opportunity for college coaches to travel overseas to watch the team compete.

With 12 high-major players on the roster, only two of whom are committed, college coaches wanted to show how much of a priority they were making some of these recruits by traveling all the way to Spain to watch them compete.

AJ MAST/Associated Press

The players were focused first on capturing the gold medal, but they also heard about which coaches were there to see them play.

"I can't really see them that well because they're high up, but it was cool," 5-star big man Jaren Jackson said about the coaches in Spain. "To see that kind of interest in me to travel all the way to Spain [is great]."

Since many of the players don't have phones equipped to deal with international communication, it was also hard to distinguish which coaches were going overseas to get a live look at the World Championships. But Twitter was still available, and news of certain coaches showing up quickly spread.

"We're all great players; there's a number of different players on the team," Jackson said. "It's not surprising to see the coaches come out like that."

Recruiting ratings via 247 Sports.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and information were obtained firsthand.