Inside the Golden State Warriors‘ practice facility in Oakland, California, Kevin Durant sat at the podium and responded to the first question of the 2018-19 season: How would he handle all the attention focused on his looming free agency that coming offseason?
“Wake up in the morning, come to practice and go home,” Durant said.
The tenor of the defending champions’ final season in the Bay Area was set.
Durant didn’t want the focus to be on his impending decision — yet his deal that included a player option in 2019-2020 made it difficult to avoid speculation. It was speculation that the other Warriors stars quashed: Stephen Curry signed a $201 million, five-year max extension in 2017, and Draymond Green was in the midst of a five-year, $85 million extension. And while Klay Thompson was also set to become a free agent at season’s end, there was never a question about whether he’d leave.
“It’s one of those things where you’re just confident in your skills and you just kind of want to take it year by year,” Durant said then. “And I think to keep my options up, it was the best thing for me. …
“This whole year is going to be a fun, exciting year for us all, and I’m looking forward to just focusing on that, and we’ll see what happens after the year.”
As hard as Durant and the Warriors tried to keep the focus on what they were doing on the floor, the uncertainty surrounding his free-agency decision hovered over everything the organization did in that final season — all through the regular season, all through the postseason and, ultimately, through the unraveling in the Finals as both Durant and Thompson fell to injuries.
Now a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Durant is set to face the Warriors for the first time at Chase Center (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC) in San Francisco. Here is a look back at the final year of his Warriors tenure and the fraying of the Golden State dynasty — through the words of Durant and the Warriors.
Nov. 9, 2018: Durant tours the future site of Chase Center
Durant: “My imagination is going wild right now with possibilities.”
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The organization tried hard for the tour not to come across as a recruiting pitch, but it quickly became clear which way all the attention was going during a walk through the unfinished arena that was originally organized for media and team sponsors. After some of the construction workers told him that he was the first player to tour the premises, Durant, who attended the building’s original groundbreaking in 2017, walked around and asked a few questions as the tour progressed. He chuckled when a reporter asked if he wanted to commit to the Warriors on the spot. “What are we doing?” Durant asked, as Warriors staffers tried to move things along.
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At the beginning of the 2018-19 season, the Warriors held out hope that Durant would re-sign after the season. Many inside the organization felt as long as the Warriors secured a third straight title, there’d be little reason the superstar wouldn’t want to transition into the state-of-the-art, $1.4 billion arena in San Francisco.
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As he left the site, a Warriors official had Durant sign the construction boots specially ordered for him to wear that day. Stephen Collins, then the head of Chase Center’s construction, proudly carried the boots away. The Warriors were hoping to eventually display them once the new building opened and Durant signed a new deal. Now the boots are a reminder of what might have been. Officials know the boots made it to Chase Center, but no one knows exactly where they landed after the move.
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At that point in the season, the Warriors were continuing the dominance that defined Durant’s tenure. The group won 10 of its first 11 games, including an Oct. 29 blowout over the Chicago Bulls during which Thompson set an NBA record with 14 3-pointers, breaking Curry’s previous mark of 13 set in Durant’s first season with Golden State. “It’s only fitting that those two hold the records,” Durant said.
Read More: How the Kevin Durant-Warriors era came to an end — in their own words