LAS VEGAS (KRON) — The anti-Kevin Durant to Golden State Warriors chorus grew louder Tuesday when the NBA’s commissioner expressed his concern about the competitive balance of the league.
Commissioner Adam Silver says Kevin Durant was within his rights to join a Golden State team already loaded with talent, but acknowledged that having a league where it seems only two teams have a chance to win the finals may not be fair play.
“I don’t think it’s good for the league,” Silver said about the possibility of uneven competitive balance.
Silver made his comments after the league’s annual board of governor’s meeting in Las Vegas. His remarks about the Durant deal came after announcing that the NBA owners made no decision on moving next year’s All-Star Game from Charlotte because of North Carolina’s law limiting protection for LGBT people.
Durant, a 9-year NBA veteran and former league MVP, decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder on July 4 to join Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors.
Silver said there have been talks with the players’ union about changing some of the elements in the free-agent system, and that it will be a part of the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations.
The Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Oklahoma City Thunder were all among the teams that were trying to recruit the 2014 NBA MVP to their franchise.
“My sense is some of the player movement we just saw isn’t necessarily a function of market size,” Silver said. “It’s clearly a case of one particular player’s desire to be in a situation with a group of players that all have already proven that they can win [a championship].
“By the way, I don’t mean to be so cryptic. In the case of Kevin Durant, I absolutely respect his decision, once he becomes a free agent, to make a choice that’s available to him. In this particular case, he operated 100 percent within the way of the system, and the same with Golden State,” he said.
Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and Warriors’ executive board member Jerry West, played a big role in helping the team land the coveted free agent forward. West personally called Durant to convince the 2014 MVP to join the Warriors during the July 4 holiday weekend.