Draymond Green: Kevin Durant Should've Addressed Contract, Future with Warriors

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green discussed a number of topics related to ESPN's The Last Dance documentary, which details Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, during an interview with UNINTERRUPTED, including how that final season for the Bulls dynasty was different than his own 2018-19 campaign playing alongside Kevin Durant.

The documentary showed Bulls head coach Phil Jackson telling his team the 1997-98 campaign was the final season for the group as currently constructed, which Green pointed out removed the lingering elephant from the room.

As for Golden State, the Michigan State product noted Durant didn't publicly commit to staying long-term, while he and Klay Thompson did, meaning it was a constant topic of discussion.

"What should have happened was Kevin come out and say, 'Hey, man, this is it. So let's do this,'" Green said in the interview (starting around the 36-minute mark, NSFW language). "... You can't just leave the elephant in the room because what happened was the questions came to us."

Green also acknowledged head coach Steve Kerr did the best he could to address the "huge elephant sitting in the room" but said it didn't mean as much if Durant didn't also. He compared that to Bulls general manager Jerry Krause saying it was Jackson's last year, Jackson himself saying as much and Jordan proclaiming he would also leave if Jackson was no longer the coach.

Durant played three seasons for the Warriors from the 2016-17 campaign through 2018-19, leading the team to three NBA Finals appearances and two championships.

It very well could have been a three-peat, but he missed the vast majority of last year's Finals against the Toronto Raptors with an Achilles injury.

While there was clearly frustration on Green's part with Durant not addressing his future with the team during the championship run, there was an understanding of how important he was to the overall success. Green suggested their team with KD would beat the 2015-16 one that won a record 73 regular-season games by 20 points "easy."

Durant eventually joined the Brooklyn Nets this past offseason but is yet to suit up for the team because of the Achilles injury.

Golden State has struggled all season without him, although much of that can be attributed to the fact that Thompson hasn't played because of a torn ACL and Stephen Curry has played five games because of a broken hand.

It is not difficult to envision the Warriors bouncing back and competing again next season with a healthy roster, but reaching the level they were at with Durant seems highly unlikely.