While some will say Kevin Durant brought it on himself by deciding to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, he's still had to deal with backlash to a huge life decision in free agency this summer. All of a sudden, Durant was villainous in the way an athlete can be perceived when deciding to leave one workplace for another workplace. People started wanting to pile on him for choosing "the easy way" of pursuing his first NBA championship.
Durant will wear that court of public opinion because it comes with the territory, but instead of having to wait all summer to get on the court and get back to business, he was able to play basketball with Team USA as they won the gold medal in the Olympics. For Durant, that experience wasn't just great for being able to represent his country and secure another gold medal, but it was also therapeutic for him to be able to focus on basketball now and escape a bit from the story lines he created. From Michael Lee of The Vertical:
During an emotional summer in which he left behind his first professional franchise, was (mis)cast as a villain for siding with a former enemy and found himself having to defend his character, Team USA provided a much-needed sanctuary. For nearly a month, Durant got to play the game he loves, bond with some new and old friends - and win - without sweating any manufactured controversies or external second-guessing.
"It was therapy for me after making a big change in my life," Durant told The Vertical in the bowels of Carioca Arena 1 about an hour after scoring 30 points in Sunday's 96-66 victory. "It made my life easier ... I knew [a backlash] was coming. It was definitely different for me, but to come here in an environment where people accepted me and didn't care about anything except being my buddy, that's what I needed."
The finish to USA Basketball's gold medal run probably helped things too. Not only did Durant get a gold medal but his overwhelming scoring performance against Serbia in the final game helped his team blow out the competition in the process. He got to play with new teammates Draymond Green and Klay Thompson to start building a modicum amount of familiarity with them. He got to have fun with guys like Jimmy Butler and DeAndre Jordan. He got to hang out with Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, and Kyle Lowry.
While he still fielded questions about his decision to join the Warriors and what they could possibly be, the play on the court was a great escape for him, mentally. Now there's just a little over a month until training camp begins and he can get to work for real in his new home.
