The Warriors won the NBA championship with a 129-120 Game 5 win over the Cavaliers on Monday, but it might not have happened if it weren't for a few simple texts.
Earlier this week a report surfaced that Draymond Green had called Kevin Durant immediately after the Warriors lost to the Cavaliers in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals to try to convince KD to join the Warriors.
Durant vehemently denied the report, saying it was "100 percent false." Technically Durant was telling the truth, because apparently Green sent him a few text messages instead of calling him. From Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins:
And so, at that locker, in that uniform, less than an hour after the most excruciating loss of his life, Green punched up Kevin Durant's number. "See what we're missing," Green says, recounting the text message he sent Durant. "We need you. Make it happen." Green had been courting Durant for months, but this was his strongest pitch yet, delivered at the most dramatic juncture. "Right after you lose Game 7," Green says, "shows you're serious." Of course the Warriors did not need Durant, not really. They had gone 73–9 without him. But Green would leave nothing to chance. Neither, it turned out, would Durant.
So it appears that Green's text messages set the wheels in motion for a decision that would change the landscape of the NBA as we know it. More from Jenkins:
Green stared at his phone, waiting for a reply. Up to that point the Thunder were confident they would re‑sign Durant when he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1. One Oklahoma City official kept in touch with him through June and was encouraged by his upbeat tone. "The day Golden State lost, everything changed," the official says. "The phone calls, the text messages, they were more distant." The Warriors would have to endure a summer's worth of mortifying memes --punishment for squandering a 3–1 Finals lead -- but by the time Green peeled off his home whites and hit the showers, he could sense that his squad would laugh last. Durant's response flashed across the screen: "I'm ready. Let's do this."
Apparently the Warriors have Green to thank for immediately reaching out to Durant. And NBA fans who feel Durant's decision created an unfair balance in the league now have Green to blame.
