In this interview, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green discuss the 2015‑2019 stretch of the NBA, which Green labels the best five‑year era in league history. Durant reflects on the backlash he faced for leaving Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, emphasizing that his move helped elevate the game, spurred team building strategies, and contributed to a league‑wide surge in talent. Both players cite the rise of three‑point shooting, faster pace, and the emergence of new superstars such as Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, and Chris Paul as hallmarks of the period. They credit the increased player movement, the formation of the Warriors dynasty, and the shared experience of Team USA summer play for sharpening skills across the league. The conversation shifts to a veteran’s perspective, with Durant describing how his early career superstitions gave way to a more relaxed, confident mindset, and how modern coaching encourages aggressive three‑point attempts, a double‑edged sword that can both boost and hinder teams. Overall, the dialogue celebrates the era’s excitement, its impact on player development, and the lasting influence on the NBA’s evolution.
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Do you think people are still mad at you for playing with the Warriors?
I mean, I'm sure some people not gonna like let it go. I don't, I'm gonna say they mad, they still angry about it, but I don't think they gonna forget that I went to the Warriors. You know what I'm saying? That's gonna always be a talking point when it comes to my career. But I don't give a shit. We did some incredible things and we had some of the most fun times of my life moving around. As a warrior. So it's gonna be people that love it, it's gonna be people that hate it, man. But at the end of the day, it happened.
And it was great.
And we happy it did 'cause it created a dynasty. Man, got to see you at the peak of your career and your moment. And so when you think about when time pass and people are like, damn, bro, like we wish this would've stayed together for, you know, 3, 4 more years.
Yeah, they gonna say that. They gonna say that. But when they should just be, you know, going back and watching that footage so they can learn. That part. That part.
Listen, man. You hear people say that shit all the time. And the reality is 2015 to 2019 is, in my opinion, the best era of NBA basketball, the best 5-year stretch of NBA basketball, in my opinion. But regardless if that's your opinion or not, you may say, oh, it was, The showtime is somewhere in the top 3, which—
Exactly.
The amount of guys that's coming to the NBA, that's a big deal. And you coming to the Warriors elevated it so much to where that's why it became that. It doesn't become that. We never really experienced the era of basketball we experienced had you not came to the Warriors. That's actually what elevated the game 'Cause it elevated teams because then all of a sudden it was like, oh, whoa, wait, we gotta build to beat them. And that dude, it elevated the team, it elevated skill sets. I think it elevated so much in my opinion.
No, I agree. I agree. And as I was making that decision to leave OKC, it was like, all right, if I stay in OKC, I think I'm passing up on something so incredible. That I don't know if I could just pass this up. This ain't just no regular opportunity. That's how I was feeling. And I didn't know exactly how it would play out, obviously, but it just felt like this would be a huge, huge shift and moment. And not just to people that consume the game, but just how the game is played itself. You know what I'm saying?
Mm-hmm.
I was like, this seemed like— this seemed like something I can't turn down right now. You know what I mean? And it turned out to be that big. And I agree. You know what I'm saying? It was so many great teams. Like, '67 went Spurs that year. Y'all won '73. Then Cleveland won '16 and had won what, '14 in the playoffs, I think when they played. Yep. 14-1. It was like insane shit that was going on team-wise and individual player-wise. You know what I'm saying? We was seeing the, that's when Kawhi started to emerge to become a superstar from there.
Right.
You know what I'm saying? That's when y'all, the Warriors started to come around 2015. That's when, you know, you, Steph, Klay, started to jump on to be All-Stars every year. You know what I'm saying?
So— Kyrie started playing with Bron that year. We seen Kyrie in a totally different light.
Exactly. You know what I'm saying? So it was a lot of shift in like, dudes that are transforming to be like, "All right, they're stars now. These dudes are superstars too now." I'm saying it was a few extra dudes that you wouldn't expect. Like a Kawhi, like a—
James.
James had just kind of left y'all right when that happened. And James became—
James.
James, James.
You know what I'm saying? Like even Steph, I mean Steph was at the all-star level, but he ascended to like God-tier levels around that time. You know what I'm saying? So when you see these dudes, you know, even myself, you know, going from an MVP, you know what I'm saying? And you see everybody ascended quick. D-Rose, you know, I could just go down the line.
Russ, everybody, everybody leveled up.
Everybody leveled up at that time. And it all felt like at the same time. And when you go from seeing dudes become young stars to super mega stars that's gonna, you know, push the league forward for the next 10 years, it's just like, wow, that shit happened quick. And it surprised us too, you know? 'Cause we was so used to the Kobe, Shaq era things, the slowed down pace of guards backing you down all the way down court.
Yeah.
It was very rare you see a B.D. or Steve Francis or, you know what I'm saying? Now you were seeing these dudes every night.
Every night.
So I think the players that went to the next level and then the team building that went to the next level too.
Yeah, it was a good time. It allowed for everybody to assume they superstar power. And then it allowed for some consolidation for like super combat. 'Cause like you were saying, y'all wasn't sweeping people. It was game 6, Memphis. Memphis had a consolidated, curated, you know, All-Stars, Gasol, Z-Bo, right? People start putting together the right engine, the teams. You leave OKC, go to the Warriors, that becomes super dynamic. OKC still become, you know, it allow Russ to become a superstar. James go to Houston, he become a superstar, right? You got DeMar in Toronto.
Then you got PG for Russ.
Then you got PG with Russ, so the dynamic, —Draymond Green emerged, right?
Kyle Lowry became a 9-time All-Star after not making All-Star for like his first 6 or 7 years or something like that.
It was a boom. And players were just stepping it up a level throughout the whole league, which made teams better. You know what I'm saying? And it was just a perfect time, man. You seen it. Dudes was working their asses off. And I think that a lot of the reason that come about was we hooped a lot in the summers with each other. We knew each other, Team USA. So we was kind of like sharpening each other throughout the whole year. League, to be honest.
Absolutely. CP and James. CP was at the peak of his powers.
CP and Blake. CP, like, it was—
Yeah, yeah, it was cracking.
It was a lot of shit going on around that time. That was a great time, man.
It was cracking. You know, almost, you played in two different decades. You've seen the game evolve, you've seen the style of play evolve. Can you talk about just eras? Which era for you was like the most exciting? And then being a vet in this new era, what does it feel like being like, damn dude, I wish I was my younger self?
I mean, I like, I love this era of ball, man. 'Cause it's just, it's free flowing. It's a lot of space to work. We encouraged to shoot more shots, to shoot deep threes. Like people talk about the players a lot about this 3-point shooting, but they don't realize how much our coaches encourage us to shoot threes.
That's crazy.
Like every day, like—
That's crazy.
We might have a film session strictly on like, we need more threes up. You know what I'm saying? So it's like having that encouragement from your coach to be aggressive, to shoot and to score is definitely better for me in this era. I mean, the past eras were cool too. I got the freedom to shoot whenever I want, but my teammates didn't have that confidence. It's a little different. So now everybody feeling like they got confidence to go out there and score. That makes it easier for everybody. So, I enjoyed this era a little bit more just for that simple fact. And it was just the amount of athleticism and skill that you see in the league from all positions now. It was just crazy to see, you know what I'm saying? So evolution of the game, it was fun to play in it and see it, you know, in real time.
As someone though who doesn't, like, you'll get 40 points and attempt 2 threes. As somebody who can shoot the piss outta the 3-ball, but doesn't necessarily shoot a bunch of 'em. Do you think some guys being so confident to shoot sometimes become a problem for these teams though?
Yeah, for sure. For sure. It's plenty of times where you might have to, you could have turned that one down and got something better. Instead you pulling this 3 over contest and you 0 for 5 for the night. It's definitely a double-edged sword to all of that. I mean, when it's great though, it's like the peak of basketball. But when it's bad, we gotta live with both sides of that. But players could turn down some of those threes, especially if you not hot, you know what I'm saying? To find a better shot or maybe get closer to the rim. Yeah. But overall, I think it's pushed the game to new heights.
As a vet, dude, do you find yourself when you talking to the young guys saying like, man, when I was your age, and then thinking about like actually when you were their age in this era, What would the Golden State Warrior, OKC Durantula look like playing against these young dudes you be talking shit to every night? 'Cause you be barking at 'em, dog. I didn't know you bark like that. Oh, you be barking at 'em. So I wonder, what's your thoughts? Gotta keep that energy up, man.
I think that up the level of the game when you engaged like that. I think more so than anything, my mentality as I got older, I wish I was thinking a little bit like this when I was younger. Whereas—
Yeah.
Coming into the game, I was superstitious early on when I come into the league. I felt like everything had to be right for me to play well. I was just overthinking a lot of things out there. I think as I got older, more experienced, and you reach some success, you kind of relax a bit on like, you know, just let the game come to you and play your game instead of trying to force things. You know what I'm saying? You know exactly when you need to press the issue and when you don't. I think as a young player, you just always pressing the issue, trying to figure it out. And I would have more bad games than I would want to at that age. Now, you know, I'm not playing, you know, I might shoot it bad, you know, every once in a while, you know what I'm saying? So I just feel more relaxed coming into the games.
Right.
Having, you know, making me execute a little better. So I wish I had that mentality early on. In my career, but it worked out either way. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
