Warriors president never expected to sign Durant
It came off as more fantasy than reality for the 73-win Golden State Warriors to land four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant in free agency. Team president and COO Rick Welts certainly didn't expect a player of his caliber to come on board, especially considering there was more money to be had simply by staying put with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"Well, I think we had hope," Welts said during a recent appearance on CBS Sports Radio's Tiki and Tierney. "We, like every other team, probably didn't think it was going to happen, and I can assure you we had no indication it was going to happen until the phone rang at 7:30 in the morning in Bob Myers' cabin on Lake Tahoe and Kevin called to give us his decision.
"I think there was a lot of screaming and yelling going on in the Myers' cabin at that point in time."
The Warriors were the second team to meet with the former league Most Valuable Player once free agency opened on July 1st, with members of management, along with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala all reportedly in attendance to sway Durant's decision.
While Golden State is the heavy favorite - even more so than the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers - to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy at the end of the 2016-17 campaign, Welts knows it's far too early to crown his team before they even hit the hardwood with Durant in uniform.
"The last time I checked, our record is 0-0," Welts said. "I do think the advantage we have going into the season is we’ve gone through two consecutive seasons by making it to the Finals, winning once and losing once. We know what both feel like, so the journey is going to be a familiar one for these guys. They know what the pressure is all about. Last year, 73 wins, most wins in the history of the league. Actually, adding our playoff wins, it was the most wins for any NBA team over the course of a season ever. So they feel the pressure every night.
"They’ve had a target on their back all last season. I can’t imagine guys being better prepared to go into what is going to be a year of incredibly high expectations."
Durant's contract with Golden State only runs for two seasons with a player option in the second year, and while he insists there's no chance he'd opt out, Welts is aware that the Warriors need to continuously show their new star that he made the right decision to head to the Bay Area, if only to avoid the off chance of losing him down the road.
"There’s no commitment from Kevin," Welts said. "He signed a one-year contract with a player option. So I think the hope and expectation is there’s a business reason for doing that more than there is a basketball reason for doing that. We’ve got to be a place that is as good as he thought it was when he selected the Warriors over the other options that he had. I think we’re going through a really interesting time in our league. We’re all trying to figure out what the new world is going to look like."