Kevin Durant Says Draymond Green Altercation Won't Impact Free-Agency Decision

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that his recent altercation with teammate Draymond Green won't have an impact on his upcoming free-agency decision.

"Nah, [it won't factor]," he said. "Because at the end of the day, I'm just a ballplayer that's just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that once the game starts, I'm just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me."

Durant can waive his player option and become a free agent in the summer of 2019.

He and Green got into an on-court argument after the final play in regulation against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 12. With the Warriors and Clips tied at 106 and Golden State possessing the ball as time ran out, Green raced down the court to try to get a shot off, but the ball was knocked away.

Durant seemed upset that Green didn't pass, and the two players had an emotional conversation on the bench before overtime.

The Warriors ended up losing 121-116, and the argument carried into the locker room, per Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of ESPN. Green was eventually suspended for one game without pay for conduct detrimental to the team.

Emotions seem to have cooled over recent days, with both Green and Durant trying to move forward from the incident in public comments.

The long-term question is whether this would have any impact on Durant's upcoming decision about his NBA future, and Durant made it clear to Haynes that it will not:

"I was upset, but I know that I can't hold on to something like this. I know that I've got to make a choice with myself, like how long are you going to be upset about this to the point where you're going to let it affect what you do on the floor or how you approach the game?

"Once it gets there now, I got to make a grown-man decision and tell myself, 'Look, man, no matter what, you still got to come to work every single day. It's going to work out. It's going to figure itself out.' And I think everyone's been handling it the best way they could and we're just trying to move forward with it."

Overall, it's hard seeing one incident in November having a significant impact on Durant's decision. Perhaps he wants a new challenge as he tries to take another team to the next level, or maybe he decides he wants to ride out the dynasty and see how many championships the Warriors can roll off.

Regardless, far greater reasons than that one moment will factor in Durant's choice.